


Colours

by ladyinprocessing (orphan_account)



Series: Soulmates [1]
Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Colours, F/F, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Internalized Homophobia, established bade, kinda sad, maybe just broke my own heart, one sided jori
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-06-27 01:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15675615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ladyinprocessing
Summary: Everyone is born colour blind, their vision clouded by blue and grey. That's until they touched their soulmate for the first time, then their world would scream with colour.





	1. Pilot

Tori Vega lived in a world hued blue and grey. It had been like this since she could remember. She was all right with it though, she was still young. Most people didn’t meet their soulmate until later in life, never mind get to touch them. Her mother and father had told her and her sister the story of them figuring out they were soulmates all the time as they grew up. The sisters would talk about it excitedly constantly when they were children, fantasising about the boy that would brush past them one day and their vision exploded with colour. They’d finally be able to know what pink looked like and finally be able to see what they truly looked like.

She’d had so many dreams of who her soulmate was. Maybe he’d be tall, dark and handsome or maybe he’d be a total sweetheart. The thought of it excited her, it always had. She liked the idea that there was someone out there that was made, just for her. He wouldn’t be anyone else’s, just hers. She wasn’t a particularly jealous person, but she didn’t like the thought of the person who was fated to be with her, being with someone else. She supposed it was natural, she also didn’t like when other people called her best friend _their_ best friend, but that was most definitely different.

On her first day of Hollywood Arts, she felt weird. Not in the nervous butterflies’ kind of way, she had never felt like this before. As she walked through the front door of the school with Trina at her side, the feeling intensified in Tori’s abdomen. At one point, she thought she was going to vomit. She thought to herself that it was definitely just stress. This school was filled with crazily talented, slightly eccentric, people and she was just normal. She didn’t have coloured hair or super stylish clothes. She was just Tori. Sure, her singing was decent, but that didn’t beat the dancer she saw as soon as she entered the building or the acting of the other people in her improv class. She was so intimidated as she followed the puppet’s directions to Mr Sikowitz’s class and entered to see the girl, Cat, whom she’d briefly spoken to earlier. It was nice to see a familiar face.

Just as her jitters started to settle down, she bumped into the most attractive boy she’d ever seen in real life. She’d managed to spill his coffee all over him. She apologised profusely before attempting to rub his shirt clean. It really wasn’t helping, and he pointed that out, but she was quite satisfied being this close to them. They hadn’t touched skin-to-skin yet, but she was silently praying that once they did, she’d see in colour. But then, a girl, who was slightly taller than Tori, barged through the classroom door, looking extremely peeved.

“Dude! Why are you rubbing my boyfriend?” she barked, glaring between the two. Tori really couldn’t describe how the girl looked, but she was definitely pretty. But, it did not look like they were going to be friends anytime soon.

“Oh… I – I spilled coffee on—" Tori started, but was cut off.

“Get away from him.”

“Relax,” the boy said calmly, kissing his girlfriend on the cheek.

Right then, the homeless man that Tori had gifted two dollars in the parking lot burst into the room, shouting something about a huge fire. The students in the classroom started stumbling towards the exits, panicking slightly. Then, the man laughed and explained that he was just trying to get their blood pumping and get their attention. He then started the lesson and introduced her to the rest of the class. He did not in the slightest look like a teacher.

After explaining to the boy, Andre, sitting next to her why she had given their teacher money, the lesson continued. She was introduced to the idea of improvisation and the girlfriend, her name was Jade, was set to be the team captain of the first group. She picked Cat, a boy named Eli, her boyfriend (his name was Beck), and her. Tori. It was her very first day of school and she was already being thrust into situations she was not even close to being comfortable with.

They were given the place of home and the situation of big. Tori had absolutely zero experience in the subject, so obediently agreed to Jade’s suggestion of her going into the hall to start the scene. She didn’t hear the start of it due to the classroom door being closed but knew to be offended when the first line she heard was Jade introducing her as the new family dog. She woofed, and then was reprimanded for both standing upright and saying, “yup, I’m the new dog!”

It was then that the girl that Tori had definitely deemed an awful person grabbed her wrist to pull her onto the small stage. Suddenly, the once blue and grey classroom burst into a variety of colours that the new girl had never seen before. She let out an audible gasp as she saw the girl who caused it. She saw her blue-green eyes and her pale skin, and her brown hair streaked with navy and purple. Tori saw her all-black outfit, save for her blood-red Doc Martens. She also saw the crimson drapes behind the stage and the multicoloured chairs scattered throughout the room. And the fact that the sky was the same shade of blue as what she thought the carpet of her room was and that the colours of her outfit really didn’t look right together.

And, just as fast as it had happened, it was over. Her soulmate had pushed her to her hands and knees and was talking about something. Tori wasn’t listening, only woofing whenever she was sure there was a silence. She was only pulled out of her overwhelmed trance by the shock of iced coffee cascading over her head. Without thinking, she rushed out of the classroom and back into the entrance hall, where she collapsed onto the stairs and dissolved into tears. She wasn’t upset that she had coffee in her hair or upset at all. It had just sunk in that she had found her soulmate at the age of fifteen and she was a girl, a mean, horrible, beautiful girl. She hadn’t even seen Jade’s reaction, which upset her slightly, but that was it.

Andre quickly followed her out of class and sat on the steps next to her. “What are you doing?”

“I’m calling my mom to come to get me,” she said softly, pulling her drenched hair out of her eyes, “I don’t want to walk around for the rest of the day with coffee on my hair.”

Andre then took her phone out of her hand and stuffed it in his pocket.

“Hey! Give me my phone back!”

“You’re going to quit on your first day just because of one mean girl?” the boy asked, shaking his head.

“I didn’t say anything about quitting. I’d just like to go home and shower,” she said sternly, folding her arms.

Before he could respond, the guy with the puppet ran up to them, asking them to go back to class. They promised they’d be back in a second before Cat came out.

“Sikowitz really wants everyone back in class!” the small girl said urgently.

The four of them argued for a few moments before Jade sauntered onto the scene looking smug, “if you guys don’t get back into class, our whack-job teacher is going to explode.”

Andre, Robbie, and Cat started walking towards the classroom. But, Jade hung around Tori.

“Why did you freak out when I grabbed you?” the mean girl asked, not in a concerned manner, but something about her tone was maybe confused.

“You didn’t see it?” the newfound brunette asked, maybe the other girl had also seen it and was bluffing.

“I don’t know what you mean?” she said, sounding positively confused this time.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not a liar. I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“The colour! You’re telling me that you didn’t see the colour?”

“No.”


	2. Tori and Jade's Play Date, Driving Tori Crazy and How Trina Got In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be just a one-shot, but I got a few comments asking to continue it and I thought I would. In the tags, it says that I don't really ship Jori, which I don't, I'm a Bade girl. But, I have read a few Jori stories and I think they have an interesting dynamic and would like to explore that. So, I decided to continue this and I hope that you all enjoy it.

Tori didn’t understand anything. Everyone was assigned a soulmate at birth. Every single person; it’s how the world worked. But, Jade West insisted that she was in love with Beck Oliver. And she’d been doing so for over a year. None of it made sense. The two girls had touched multiple times since they’d met, and the explosion of colour appeared before the new girl’s eyes on every occasion. She would look at the goth, her breath hitched, to see the raven-haired girl’s face completely devoid of emotion. So, Tori never mentioned it. It really wasn’t her place to tell the world that they were soulmates, especially since they were both girls. She couldn’t do that to Jade.

It wasn’t until Beck and Jade’s very public breakup that Tori let the notion of being with the other girl enter her mind. At some point, they would have to have a conversation about it. They were going to end up together, it was destiny. She thought that the breakup was fate’s way of pulling them together. But, Jade refused to talk to anyone for weeks after the breakup. She sat alone at lunch, rejected any offers to go out and had apparently slammed the door in Cat’s face when the redhead had gone to visit her. She also had posted on TheSlap twice, once to confirm the end of her two-and-a-half-year relationship and again to tell people to leave her alone. She didn’t answer texts and never returned calls. She’d isolated herself from the rest of the world while her ex-boyfriend sauntered around Hollywood Arts as if nothing had happened. Tori could not think of a way to get in contact with the girl.

They were sitting in Sikowitz’s classroom first thing on a Monday morning. It was far too early to deal with the teacher and Tori mentally slapped the person who assigned her the Advanced Improvisation class at seven-thirty on a Monday.

“Alright, now let’s talk about the new play I’m directing,” the teacher said, rubbing his hands together.

“Do I get to star in it?” Jade asked. Andre then started to argue with her, claiming it was his turn to star in a play. This sparked a class-wide disagreement on who starred in the most of Sikowitz’s plays. Tori decided that informing the class that it was, in fact, her, was a bad idea.

“You see? Every time I cast a new play, you all get your panties in a pretzel,” Sikowitz said, raising his voice to be heard over the bickering, “so, this time, you people will choose your own roles.

So, the students picked pieces of paper out of the box their teacher offered each of them Andre and Beck were to play identical twins named Tommy and Carter (Tori supposed this is why casting isn’t generally done this way), Jade was going to play Nancy and Tori was to play her husband, Walter.

“I’m supposed to play her wife?” the goth demanded, sounding outraged. This was not happening. They had played spouses once before during class, but that was completely different. For one, Jade had been the husband, and also, it hadn’t been a full-fledged production, it was a skit for class.

Their teacher accepted no arguments, claiming his box had chosen. He went on to explain the plot of the play and when it would be performed. Rehearsals started a week from that class and the actors were expected to be off-book by then. The play was in no way long, so that part shouldn’t be too difficult. Neither of the girls was comfortable with the roles but both got offended when the other voiced their opinion. Tori wished that their relationship wasn’t so complicated.

By their fifth rehearsal, both were still completely incompetent at showing the other affection, especially since they’d had a very large argument the period before over whether or not it was okay to parody a film for their filmmaking class. Their teacher decided it was, and Jade won the argument. This just wasn’t working. This worried Tori. If they couldn’t even pretend to be in love, how could they possibly do it in real life? She could easily admit that the two of them were pretty good actresses, so the inability to play a married couple was definitely concerning and was confusing their friends.

“You girls meet me at Nozu tonight, seven o’clock,” Sikowitz told them, after berating their acting so much that it was beyond belligerent, particularly coming from their acting teacher. He again ignored their protests and left the Black Box without another word.

So, the three of them met at the sushi restaurant at seven. He then informed them that they were now on a date, so they could improve their roles and threatened them with a failed semester if they left it. This whole thing did not seem at all legal, and if they went to Helen with this their teacher would most definitely be put on probation, at least. But, they were both dedicated actors and didn’t want to ruin any performance, so they stayed in the establishment and ate their food in relative silence.

“There is no good reason why you and I shouldn’t be able to sit here together and have a conversation,” Tori said after a while. She really couldn’t think of a reason why they couldn’t talk, but her ‘date’ had other plans.

“I’ve got a good reason,” Jade said, rolling her eyes slightly.

“Which is?”

“I don’t like you!” the paler of the girls said pointedly. _You don’t mean that_ Tori thought, hoped.

“Really? You can’t think of one thing you like about me?” she asked, raising a perfectly plucked brow. There must be something.

“I like it when you’re sad,” Jade said quickly, making direct eye contact. Her tone was plain.

“Okay,” the other teenager sighed, “try again. Reach deep down into your twisted, bitter soul and see if you can find anything nice to say about me.”

The actress hesitated, looking to the ceiling for patience, “er… okay. Your singing… isn’t… awful?”

“Thanks so much!”

“Now let’s hear something nice about me.”

“Sure,” the singer snapped, “uhm, I admire how you’re never afraid to share what you think.”

“That’s stupid.”

“See! Now, your turn again.”

Jade sighed and rolled her eyes, “I guess some people might say… from certain angles… you’re pretty.” After a short silence, she got slightly irritated, “you could say I’m pretty!”

“You are pretty,” Tori promised softly, looking at her date properly for the first time that night. She looked at her striking blue-green eyes (which were the same colour when the two were and weren’t touching) and the stark contrast of her black hair against her skin and the blue that was tangled through it. Admittedly, the goth was one of the most beautiful girls she had ever seen, and she was now perfectly okay with them ending up together. Even if she was a girl.

There was a long awkward pause and the two girls looked away from one another and continued to eat their sushi in silence again. A few moments later, God decided that they hadn’t been punished enough by being on this date together and sent two obnoxiously loud boys in their direction. Tori gathered that one of their names was Chad, because she apparently had a ‘Chad Infection’, but otherwise knew nothing about them. Both of the girls had tried multiple times to get the guys to leave them alone, Jade even elbowed one of them in the crotch, but they refused to clear off. That was until the two girls sang a passive-aggressive song about guys hitting on girls, then they slunk away.

Overall, their ‘date’ wasn’t unbearable. Tori had fun, anyway. The two girls got to talk, not about anything in particular, but it was nice to have a conversation without Jade feeling the need to insult her every action. They’d also sang together for the first time. Tori didn’t know how to feel about it. They’d done it to get rid of Chad and his swine of a friend, so it wasn’t in the same way she’d sang with Andre or Cat. It was different, but she definitely liked it.

They performed the play three days later, and they’d finally convinced Sikowitz they were a married couple with two children. It definitely helped that Tori looked at Jade like she put the stars in the sky when their hands touched, because of the fact she could see in colour again. She was not in love with Jade.

 

 

Two-and-a-half weeks later, there was a movie shooting down the street from Tori’s house. This caused the usual ride five-minute car ride to school to rocket to forty. The first few days she rode with Trina. It was actual torture. The older Vega made her sister shave her legs and sit in a hundred and twenty degrees and text her crush. It really was awful. So, Tori sought out for a new ride.

Beck gave her a ride the next day. She thought this would be fun. He was one of her best friends and was one of the coolest people she knew. Forty-five minutes with him wouldn’t be a problem. Except, it was. Four girls also got a ride from him that day. They were all bimbos that went to Northridge (another ten minutes out of their way) and he was too nice to turn them away. They kept interrupting the conversation the two friends were having by asking what car he drove and what shampoo he used and what he was doing after school. Man, were they irritating. Tori decided that she would never travel to school with Beck again.

Andre gives her a ride the next day. This would be better. He didn’t have girls constantly lusting over him and he didn’t do yoga while on Mulholland Drive. The ride was going well. They were talking about a song they were thinking of writing and their plans for the weekend. Then, his grandmother popped up in the backseat. She couldn’t find her glasses and then she put her oatmeal in the teen’s hands and laughed at her for not having her driver’s license. That would never be happening again.

Robbie gave her a ride next, which she was expecting to be calm enough. She knew for sure that he wasn’t giving anyone else a ride. But, he drove some sort of bike contraption and it took an hour to pedal to school. She should have taken the offer to drive to school with Cat and her brother. Screaming was better than whatever that was.

She was sitting in the Asphalt Café later that day, waiting on her friends to get their lunch, when Jade approached her:

“I hear you’re looking for a new ride to school.”

“I am,” Tori confirmed, desperate at this point, “why?”

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven fifteen,” the goth said, not answering the question.

“You?”

“Why confused?”

“Well, you know, why would _you_ offer _me_ a ride to school?” the tanned girl asked suspiciously.

“Okay, you always complain that I’m not nice to you, and now that I’m being nice to you, you question it,” the other teenager asked, raising her pierced eyebrow.

“No. No, I mean, thanks. I’d love a ride.”

“Perfect.”

As promised, Jade arrived at her house at precisely quarter past seven the next morning. The first five minutes were in absolute silence. This car ride was remarkably like their date. Neither of them really wanted to be there and an unresolved tension hung in the air.

“I like your car,” Tori finally said, the quiet freaking her out.

“I’m so glad,” Jade said, taking her eyes off the road for a millisecond to glance at the other.

“I thought you only liked to drive at night,” the younger Vega sister said, remembering what her frenemy said when they drove to Mona Patterson’s house.

“I prefer to drive at night, but, you know, anything for a friend.” They definitely weren’t friends. The goth like to make that clear as much as humanly possible. There was another strained silence, more uncomfortable than the last.

Tori then noticed that they were in the middle of nowhere, which frightened her. She would not put it past her so-called ‘friend’ to murder her and bury her body where no one would find it, “where are we?” she asked, scooting as close to the door as possible.

“Just driving to school.”

The rest of the way there was silent. Jade didn’t act on the other girl’s thoughts but made her feel as uneasy as possible. The goth must have gotten a kick out of it. There was no way that she would be so mean and cold to everyone. She couldn’t be as psychologically problematic as she came across. Her behaviour must come from somewhere else. She could not possibly be that angry at the world. Tori would later learn that she was, it was just the way she was.

She had been acting a lot warmer to Tori since the breakup, whereas she’d been extremely explosive to everyone else. This could be seen as a positive thing, or that she had run out of resentment to push in the half-Latina’s direction. They’d hung out three times outside of their friend group. The two had even had a civil conversation after they got out of Lane’s office after they’d been fighting about what happened to Trina. It was a pointless conversation about their guidance councillor’s weird lotion obsession. It was hardly anything, but it was something.


	3. Tori Goes Platinum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter ladies and gentlemen! I know I may have said that I don't exactly ship Jori in the last one... but I'm a massive fibber. I am convinced that they live in a French chateau with their eleven dogs, happily married and cannot be convinced otherwise.
> 
> Anyhoo, happy reading!

When Mason Thornesmith walked through the front door of Hollywood Arts, Tori Vega’s heart stopped. Of course, it could be anyone in the school that would be performing at the Platinum Music Awards, but she felt her odds were better than they were ten minutes ago. The producer informed her that she would be the one performing, and she could have sworn that she had died and gone to heaven. She really couldn’t believe this was happening. She knew she could sing, but the thought of being able to beat out every other talented singer in the country had barely crossed her mind. She didn’t really think she’d get it. After quite an embarrassing encounter with the head of Plutonium Records, she gave Beck, who was with her, the biggest hug she could muster. She was so elated that she nearly didn’t notice the glare that Jade was sending in their direction. But, she did.

Tori brought cat, Jade and Andre to her meeting with Mr Thornesmith that afternoon. She didn’t know where Robbie and Beck were. It was an overwhelming situation. She was going to be the next Katy Perry and Andre met Bruno Mars and everything was just going so quickly. It was amazing. That was until she was told that she had to completely change her image. She had to start dressing like a lunatic and act worse than Jade during finals week. It was ridiculous, but she had to uphold it in order to sing on live television in front of half the world. She could not mess that up by being boring old Tori Vega.

So, the next day, she came into school in the most outlandish outfit she’d ever worn. She looked like Lady GaGa had collaborated with Lisa Frank, it wasn’t a good look. Of course, Jade made fun of her. It was idiotic to think that she wouldn’t. She was Jade West, for god’s sake! She wouldn’t be able to find it in her to keep her opinion to herself. Sikowitz agreed with the goth and even corrected her when she insulted the Latina via a cough. It only got worse when she dumped ravioli down an astronaut’s pants. She would never hear the end of this.

“You just want to tell everyone that it’s all an act, that those people are making you dress and act like a jerk?” Beck asked when he came over two days before the awards.

“How did you know?” Tori asked, every little bit of stress lifting off of her shoulders, just for a second.

“Because you’re Tori,” he replied earnestly, looking straight into her eyes, “you wouldn’t act like that unless someone was making you.”

“Oh my god! You have no idea how happy I am that you know the truth!” she grabbed him by the front of his flannel shirt, trying to show her gratitude. She then let go of him quickly, “but I didn’t tell you! You figured it out on your own!”

“Okay,” he said awkwardly and gave her a thumb’s up. He asked her why she didn’t stop. He thought it was really that easy. She’d be cut from the show and then she wouldn’t be able to sing in front of all those people! But, he made the point that the show was in two days and it would be impractical to replace her so late. She decided that she would dress normally the next day.

The next thing she knew, she was leaning in. He was reciprocating. They were going to kiss. It wouldn’t be the first time, but this was different. It wasn’t for a play or to piss off Jade. Or maybe it was. Tori had literally zero interest in kissing Beck. It would be the equivalent of kissing Trina. She really wasn’t even into boys anymore, if she was being really honest with herself. Her past romantic entanglements with the opposite sex had all been disastrous. But, he was Jade’s ex-boyfriend and she was being an ungodly bitch at the moment, so Tori decided that it was okay. Their lips were about to touch when her mother came through the door, which caused them to dive away from each other.

The next day she came into school in her regular clothes. She was so nervous. Mason and his team of assistants would be here any moment to film her freaking out at a delivery man. She wasn’t going to do it. She had become a different person for these people and she was putting her foot down. That was until they all stormed into the hallway and she tried to hide behind Beck’s slight frame. It didn’t work, and she did, in fact, get fired. Jade would be her replacement. Of course, she would.

God, how she hated that girl at that moment. The two had actually been getting along lately, and now, she had just thrown it all away by taking Tori’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She couldn’t blame the goth, though. It was the same sort of opportunity for her. Realistically, this was all Beck’s fault. He was the one who suggested that she stopped doing what Mason said, and look where that got her. But, she couldn’t help loathing the other girl.

That evening the guys came to visit her, all bearing gifts. It was so sweet of them, but chocolate leaf blowers weren’t going to mend her broken heart. Cat video-called her and tried to pretend that she wasn’t helping Jade get ready for the awards show. She didn’t have to lie, really. Andre and Robbie left shortly after to go watch rehearsals. This left Beck and her. It wasn’t awkward, at least Tori didn’t think it was.

That was until he leaned in and tried to kiss her. She pulled away from his advances and screwed her face up, feeling uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding so embarrassed.

“No, I’m sorry. I—” she replied, trying to comfort him.

“I didn’t mean—”

There was a series of unfinished sentences that came after that, neither of them knowing how to react.

“Why can’t we kiss?” his question hit Tori like a tonne of bricks, she was not expecting him to be so forward and she certainly did not appreciate it.

 “Because,” she started, but had to take a breath before she continued,” because of Jade.

“Jade and I broke up,” he said simply, not understanding what she was getting at.

“Kissing your friend’s ex-boyfriend—”

“Since when are you and Jade friends?”

She didn’t know how to answer. In truth, they weren’t really friends. They were on their way there, but it was a long, long road.

“Okay, we’re not really friends. But, I couldn’t do that to her,” Tori said, avoiding eye contact.

“Why not? She has been nothing to mean to you since the two of you met! You just let her walk all over you and now, you’re letting her influence who you kiss!” Beck exclaimed, obviously getting angry.

“Because I’m in love with her!” the words had escaped her mouth before she had even thought of them. She didn’t know how she was going to get herself out of this one, “I’m sorry, Beck, but I just don’t like you like that.”

He didn’t respond, but rather stood up from his seat next to her and left the house. She felt terrible, but she had to do it. She felt so uncomfortable with him judging her for not wanting to kiss him. This was one of the many reasons she had gone off boys in the last few months; they felt they were entitled to do whatever they wanted when it came to girls. She’d seen Beck and Jade together, her just letting him play with her hair and the rings on her fingers and kiss her jaw. But, she’d also seen him try to do things that weren’t as appropriate for school. His girlfriend would tell him no and he would sit and pout like a petulant child for the rest of lunch or the class.

The next night, Tori got ready to go see Jade perform. She would rather be getting ready for her to be performing, but she was going to support the other girl. Andre came and picked her up and they rode together to the awards, talking about anything but them.

The Platinum Music Awards did not go as planned. Jade had given Tori her spot as the opening act back and she sang the song she’d wrote for it. It was probably the best night of her life. Mason had even re-hired her afterwards. As soon as she stopped singing, she ran to the front of the stage and hugged each of her friends and Cat’s bibble-guard, Oliver. All her friends except the girl who had just given her place up. The goth was nowhere to be found.

Beck and Andre went to look for her while Robbie, Cat and Tori tried calling and texting her. None of the five was successful. They claimed that she hadn’t come out to the group after leaving the backstage area. She must have immediately left.

So, Tori got her address from Cat and went to her house. She’d never been before, and it was odd. She had never known that Jade’s family were so well off, or that they lived in Calabasas. The house was huge, probably twice the size of the other girl’s. She rang the doorbell and a woman opened the door.

“Hi, is Jade here? I’m sorry it’s late, but she just kind of disappeared and I just wanted to make sure she’s okay,” Tori smiled apologetically.

“Jade is in her room,” the woman said, allowing the teenager into the house and leading her upstairs, “she’s a bit upset, so be careful.”

“Jade?” Tori asked, knocking on the mahogany door. She heard movement from inside the bedroom and the other girl appeared at the door. Her makeup was removed, and her dark hair was put into a messy bun. By the looks of it, she was also in her pyjamas.

“What are you doing here?” she spat, narrowing her eyes dangerously but she wasn’t nearly as scary and she was trying to be.

“You just left,” the half-Latina sighed, running a hand through her hair.

“I didn’t want to watch you do something else that I was supposed to do.”

Wow. Was this really what she thought? Did she really think that Tori just stole this from her, that she didn’t willingly give it up?

“What are you talking about?”

Jade opened the door to her bedroom and sat on her bed. Tori took this as an invitation to enter. The room was fascinating. There were butterflies in glass cases hanging from the wall opposite the bed, and a clock with scissors for hands. The bed was large with dark covers, just adjacent were two large, antique armchairs and a coffee table.

“I’m talking about the fact that you came backstage and practically guilted me into giving you the performance back. And the fact that you have taken nearly every leading role from me since you skipped into school last year,” the paler of the two said.

“You’re just bitter that there’s someone brave enough to audition against you. You’re just a jealous, vicious person that likes to blame anyone but yourself when things don’t go her way,” the other teenager scoffed.

“No. I’m bitter because you’re a singing major that ends up starring in nearly every play. I’m at Hollywood Arts for acting and directing, and I have starred in one play since you got here. I’m not going to be able to get jobs because my credits end half-way through my sophomore year! It isn’t fair that you came here to sing, and you do everything. Just give someone else a chance for once. I don’t mind some competition, I can’t expect to be just handed parts. But, you can just bat your eyelashes and flip your hair and you’re Sikowitz’s female lead.”

“Jade, we’re both triple threats. This kind of thing happens,” Tori said, “there is going to be competition between us.”

“That isn’t my point! I can sing but you don’t see me booking up all the spots at dances to perform, do you? I can dance but I don’t do it at every opportunity. I stick with my major. But, you obviously don’t think what you’re doing is a problem, so I’ll not talk about it,” Jade sighed defeatedly. She didn’t look angry, as you would expect her to be, but exhausted.

“I didn’t guilt you into giving up the awards show,” the shorter girl said, veering away from self-scrutiny.

“Why did you come backstage and talk to me? It was so blatantly obvious that you were upset over it. I don’t come to wish you luck before your shows, holding back tears,” the other sighed, putting her face in her hands.

“I didn’t take those roles right from underneath you!”

“I didn’t get fired for breaching my contract! Don’t tell me that you wouldn’t have done the same thing.” There was a silence, causing Jade to chuckle darkly, “fucking exactly.”

“I wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t do that to you,” Tori said firmly, “I _couldn’t_ do that to you.”

The paler girl raised her eyes from her chipped nail varnish for a moment, processing what had just been said, “and why is that?”

“We’re supposed to spend the rest of our lives together and I don’t think either of us is going to enjoy it too much if we continue fighting like this!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Jade! You need to stop acting like you don’t know that we’re soulmates. I’m sick and tired of pretending that I don’t want to yell every time you drag me into the janitor’s closet or every time you grab my hand at the end of a performance. You knew we were soulmates and you continued to date Beck like everything was normal. Like you weren’t knowingly torturing me every single time you made out against the lockers or held onto each other like you were providing each other’s oxygen! Do you really hate me that much that you can’t bear to accept our fate?” the half-Latina choked out, tears tripping her mid-sentence. She felt a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders as she spoke.

That was until she saw her supposed soulmate, who had broken down completely, sobbing violently, “you think that was easy? You think that I was enjoying it? I was fifteen years old and told that the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with was attracted to my boyfriend and a _girl_! Unlike you, my parents aren’t okay with everything I do. I have to spend the rest of my life with the person who was going against me in everything I did, proving my father right. You proved that I’m not going to be able to make it in show business because there will always be a prettier girl with a cleaner image that comes along and takes everything from underneath me. My dad threatened to pull me out of school after I stopped landing roles when you arrived. So, yeah, I do hate you that much.” Somehow, even when the girl was in her most vulnerable state, she was still absolutely terrifying.

After that, Tori left. Not another word left her mouth that night. She rode the bus in silence and didn’t say anything to her parents and Trina who was watching TV. She got into bed, feeling numb. Completely empty. Since when was she the villain?


	4. Crazy Ponnie, The Blonde Squad, and Wanko's Warehouse.

It wasn’t until the next day that it sunk in that Jade West was crying over Tori Vega. She was crying because she didn’t know how to deal with the fact that they were soulmates. She didn’t want them to be soulmates. She hated her. This revelation was like a punch to the doe-eyed teenager’s gut. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. They were supposed to meet and accidentally brush hands and see colour. They’d instantly click and become fast friends before the inevitable romance blossomed. They were supposed to spend their time staying up too late on the phone, talking about everything yet nothing at all. It was supposed to be like a romantic comedy without the angst. But, it was the opposite. Their so-called relationship was more like an episode of Dawson’s Creek than Notting Hill. Their so-called relationship was a sick joke.

Tori’s inner Jade dilemma was the least of her problems, though. An actual lunatic by the name of Ponnie was terrorising her and no one would believe her. Her friends (and Jade) were all calling her crazy and Cat even tried to recommend her one of her brother’s doctors. She wasn’t crazy, someone was trying to make her look insane. Eventually, she got her dad’s partner, Gary (who was most definitely sleeping with her mother), to arrest the girl. She had attended Hollywood Arts before Tori and had been kicked out for theft and general bad behaviour. It had nothing to do with the singer, as she had tried to convince her.

Not long after, Beck was directing a short film by the name of The Blonde Squad. Still, amid all the Jade thoughts, Tori had found it somewhat difficult to focus on the project at first, as she would be playing the raven-haired girl’s mentor and that was a nightmare. Jade was playing an idiot, which she complained about constantly (claiming it was because she was Beck’s ex. Tori kind of agreed) and whined incessantly about the fact she had to wear a blonde wig. The Latina thought the blue-eyed teenager suited the lighter hair, but would never dare mention it.

“Hey! You guys want to go grab some sushi from Nozu?” Tori asked after they had wrapped for the day.

“Yay!” Cat said, which really wasn’t a proper reply, but could be taken as accepting the invitation.

“I don’t want to, but I will,” Jade responded dryly, her arms crossed over her chest. This caused the other two girls to roll their eyes, could she just be nice for once in her life? The answer was no and proven so when they somehow decided to get dinner in their blonde wigs. She really hated those things.

“This is so cool! We’re blondes! We’re like princesses,” Tori said, playing with a strand of the synthetic hair.

“Can you be the princess who gets poisoned?” Jade asked without hesitation, glaring at her two friends.

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” the other girl inquired with a furrowed brow.

“Why, yes, I would,” the goth responded in her Sweet Sally Peaches voice.

“I don’t talk like that!”

The half-Latina then went on to explain that she liked being blonde because cute boys liked blondes after Cat had questioned her excitement.

“It doesn’t matter, they can’t see what colour our hair is, anyway. We could be gingers for all they know,” their cynical friend comment, playing with her chopsticks. This was entirely true, so the other girl didn’t reply.

Cat then went to the bathroom, but instead went to sit with some boy. This left the others to sit alone.

“Well, this is torture,” Jade said after twenty minutes spent in complete silence.

“Aren’t you just a big barrel of sunshine today,” Tori replied, frowning slightly, “why don’t we just talk about something… what are you doing this weekend?”

“I’m going to visit my dad and his wife. I really wish I wasn’t,” the paler girl groaned, leaning her chin on one of her hands.

“Your parents aren’t together?” This was odd. Divorce was unheard of and most people stayed with their soulmates after they’d met.

“They aren’t soulmates,” the goth said softly, “they had me when they were still in high school.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Another unbearable silence fell over the two and their food came. They didn’t talk while they ate and only exchanged brief goodbyes when they left. Cat was still talking to the guy. This dinner was awfully similar to their date. Except for the fact that they’d gotten along on their date. Yes, there were awkward pauses, but at least they spoke to one another.

After the premiere of the short film, Tori somehow roped Jade into giving her a ride home. She desperately needed to talk. Being trapped in a vehicle for ten minutes would probably do the trick.

“Can I talk to you about something?” the brunette asked, worrying away at her bottom lip. She didn’t exactly know how she was going to go about this, but she initiated conversation.

“Sure,” the acting major exhaled, hesitating for the first time in her life, “I want to talk to you too.”

“I’m sorry about the Platinum Music Awards,” the singer said sincerely, eyeing the other teenager carefully.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m not sorry for taking the opportunity but I will apologise for how I acted when you came to my house,” the blue-eyed girl said, taking a turn, her gaze remaining on the road, “I shouldn’t have exploded like that. But, in my defence, you lit the spark.”

“I know. I was just so frustrated with everything that I was blind to your side of the story. Please, can we at least try to get along?”

“It’s got to happen at some point.”

Smiles graced both of their features. Jade’s was genuine, not a sarcastic smirk. Tori’s was the first real one in a while. The silence that fell over them was comfortable. Neither of them felt the need to fill the car with pointless drivel of a conversation. They were happy to just enjoy the presence of one another.

“You want to come in,” the brunette asked once they’d reached her home, which now made her blush, seeing how modest it was compared to the other girl’s.

“Can’t. Sorry. Have to babysit my brother,” the actress said, “later, Vega.”

“See you, West.”

Tori spent the rest of the night with a fuzzy, tingly feeling in her stomach. She felt the same way she’d felt when she’d kissed a boy for the first time, or when she got into her school. It was such a great feeling. And Jade, _Jade_ had given it to her. She had actually been nice and apologised. She apologised! She smiled at her, the way she smiles at coffee and The Scissoring movies. It was such a wonderful feeling.

That Friday she got a text at exactly twelve past midnight. She’d almost been asleep and the light from her PearPhone had pulled her out of her almost-slumber.

_You up? -J_

Jade had never once in her life texted Tori. She usually showed up at the Vega residence unannounced and had a good cry. That’s how their relationship used to work.

_I am now_

_Good. Meet me at your front door in fifteen minutes. -J_

_No_

The singer was far too tired to be going on adventures at midnight, especially with Jade. This was going to probably be something very illegal.

_Please? -J_

_Fine_

Why did she always sign off with -J? Did she think she was the antagonist of Pretty Little Liars? Surely not. She most likely had some sort of deep, meaningful reason for it.

_Great. -J_

As promised, Jade arrived at her door precisely fifteen minutes later. She was dressed in a pair of pyjamas that were not November appropriate with her hair in two braids and Tori was wearing leggings and a huge UCLA sweatshirt with her hair in the ugliest bun. Where could they possibly be going looking like this?

“Did I wake you?” the goth said, looking slightly apologetic.

“No, but I was in bed. It’s alright,” the singer yawned, “that’s except if you need me to help you hide a body.”

“We’re not close enough to do that. I do that with Andre,” the other girl joked, pulling her friend out of the house by her wrist, “has your front door always been red?”

“So, you’re acknowledging that you can see in colour now?”

“I guess I am.”

They remained touching as they got into the car and commented on the colour of different things as they sat idle in Tori’s driveway, holding hands.

“This is weird, isn’t it?” Jade asked, quickly withdrawing her hand and starting up her car. It took a few seconds for them to readjust to the blue and grey.

“Why would it be weird?” the other girl asked, knitting her eyebrows together in confusion.

“I’m being nice to you and driving you around at one in the morning. This must feel as weird to you as it does for me,” the goth replied, her eyes on the road.

“It’s not weird to me. I always knew that you weren’t as mean as you made everyone believe. There was something too likeable about you for you to be that big of a bitch,” the more preppy teenager said, choosing her words carefully.

“That’s the nicest thing that anyone’s ever said to me.”

“You obviously haven’t been surrounding yourself with the right people, then.”

There was a silence as Tori’s words dissipated into the air. The only sound in the car was the soundtrack of Wicked, which was playing extremely softly while they talked. The words had been hanging heavily for a few minutes before either of them could say anything. The words had hit too close to home for them both. Jade had never really had a supportive friend, Beck coming the closest, even though he would constantly talk down to her like she was a toddler. Tori had the inability to trust people and therefore convinced herself that none of her friends had actually wanted to be her friend. That she was annoying them.

“I know what you told Beck,” Jade said after a long while, “thank you for not kissing him.”

This knocked the wind out of Tori, she didn’t know that Beck had told his ex-girlfriend about what had happened between them. She didn’t like that he had told her what happened between them, “he told you what happened?”

“No. No, Beck wouldn’t do that. As much as I dislike him right now, I can’t deny that he’s a good guy. Neither you or Cat ended the video call and I sort of saw everything,” the dark-haired girl sighed, what sounded like regret in her voice. She took a left turn, nibbling at her bottom lip.

“Oh. You heard everything?” the singer’s heart was pounding. She had heard her tell Beck that she was in love with her. She didn’t know if the statement was even entirely true. Of course, she had some feelings for Jade. But, love was a strong word and a strong feeling that Tori didn’t even know if she knew what it felt like.

“Yeah. I think I might feel the same. Maybe. I don’t really know. But, I don’t think I’m ready to have a relationship right now,” the goth said rather quickly, her words almost jumbling together.

“It’s okay. You two were together for a really long time, I can’t expect you to get over that overnight.”

“Thank you.”

They drove around for an hour or so, talking about their favourite Broadway shows and the fact that Jade like Britney Spears _and_ Gossip Girl. It was the most fun Tori had had in a long time. She felt like she could breathe and just be herself. She was sure what was preventing her from doing so before this, but something about Jade made her feel free. This new feeling was unexpected but welcome.

Tori and Jade sit next to each other on the ride to Wanko’s a week later. At school and around their friends, they’ve been acting like they still only feel disdain for each other, still bickering pettily and subtly insulting each other to prevent anyone getting suspicious. They’d been arguing the whole way there about who had to sit in the middle on the way back, secretly smiling at one another every once in a while, to make sure it wasn’t real. When Jade gets the brilliant idea to just camp out in the store, which ends up causing them to be stuck in one of the aisles, they fight for real. It feels sickeningly familiar, in the worst way possible. They had been doing so well for the last week and Jade had just ruined it so quickly.

Tori should have known that it wasn’t going to last. They’d gone from screaming about how much they hated each other to Jade admitting that she loves her in the space of three weeks. That doesn’t happen; even with soulmates. Guilt had built up too much for them to handle and that’s where their heart-to-hearts had come from. It had nothing to do with genuine feelings for each other, which was heartbreaking. Truly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff in this chapter, and perhaps some OOC Jade. Oops. Not to rain on your parade, but I wouldn't get used to them getting along. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	5. Opposite Date, Three Girls and A Moose, and Cell Block.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I'm being honest, I'm not the happiest with this chapter, it's kind of just a filler chapter. I hope it's not too boring.

Tori and Beck were not on a date. They’d both made that very clear. It was the complete and utter opposite of a date. It was an opposite date. Both of them were wearing sweatpants and shoes that didn’t match. Neither of them had showered, he even claimed to have rubbed dirt on himself. They ate terribly disgusting seafood that came from a sketchy truck. They brought a dog to the vet. This was not a date. The only reason they were out together was that everyone else was busy. They were all supposed to go see the opening exhibit of a dinosaur bone. But, Robbie and Andre were busy making a video to win the new PearPad (kids with a slingshot had broken Andre’s) and Jade had claimed that she’d rather sponge bath her grandfather than do that. Cat claimed it was boring and made plans with their unnecessarily graphic friend. That left Tori and Beck. It was kind of (very) awkward at first, especially after the last time they’d hung out alone. Most people don’t want to spend time with you once you reject them for their ex-girlfriends.

But, now, they were having a good time. They were cracking jokes and laughing while they waited on the dog, Buster’s, ointment. What was odd, though, was the fact that Cat kept calling her and asking where they were. She claimed that she had been locked in a closet by her brother (unsurprising), but she had plans with Jade. Perhaps those plans had been cancelled, Tori knew how the girl could be.  It didn’t feel right, though. The redhead’s laugh wasn’t like it usually was. It was probably nothing.

Their night was going fairly well until the old lady next to them asked if they were dating. Of course, they said no. They weren’t. They were just friends. That sparked a clinic-wide conversation about how they should date and why Jade and Beck still were madly in love with one another. That last part was probably somewhat true. They’d been going out for nearly three years, you don’t get over that overnight. To make this discussion just that much better, Jade and Cat joined them. There was very nearly an argument when a little girl asked if Beck thought Tori or Jade was prettier, but it ended up okay. The goth claimed she wasn’t mad, Cat said it was a trick (Tori agreed). She didn’t look mad. She actually smiled, the same smile that she had let grace her face only ten days earlier. She truly didn’t seem angry, but she was also an incredible actor. Who knew what she was feeling.

 

Not long after, Beck’s friend, Moose, came into town. Tori thought that Moose was a funny name. That was until she saw him. In the words of Jade, he was a pretty chunk of boy. He was so damn attractive and tall and so Canadian that it was virtually impossible not to fall in love with him at first glance. Unfortunately, Tori was not the only person with a crush. Jade and Cat were also afflicted. And now, like petty children, they were competing for his love. Obviously. They all had their own strategies, Tori had taken up a false obsession with ice hockey, Cat had learned that he enjoyed a hamburger and classed that as a personality trait, and was now gifting him them as often as possible, and Jade was using her fixation for The Scissoring franchise to her advantage. So far, he’d been given free front-row hockey tickets, at least twelve burgers and a trip to the house where the horror movie was filmed.

To be completely frank, Jade was winning. She was the only one of the girls who had anything in common with Moose. She had cheated though, _nobody_ could keep their eyes off her when she wore that dress.

But, Moose did not want the affection of any of the girls, apparently. He claimed that Canadian girls were superior to American girls. They liked hockey, for real. They were bigger (that was kind of rude). And they just weren’t as weird (rude, but valid). The three of them apologised to Moose and Beck, who hadn’t spent any time together yet, and they made their way to Tinkle-Aid. Tori and Cat sang a song for the boys as a further sorry. Jade didn’t show up, typical.

 

“You kissed Moose!” were the first words Tori heard from Beck the Monday following. They were directed at Jade, who was standing at her locker, scrolling through her phone with a bored expression on her face.

“What’s it to you?” she replied, only glancing up at her ex for a second before turning her gaze back to her device.

Wow, Jade had kissed Moose. That was low, even for her. She had told Tori that she wasn’t ready for a relationship, yet she’s out kissing Canadian boys. Jade West was unbelievable. She wasn’t as unpredictable as she wanted everyone to believe. This was so predictable. Of course, she would kiss her ex-boyfriend’s friend, who was strictly out-of-bounds. Of course, she would kiss someone who wasn’t her soulmate. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d done it. She’d spent a year-and-a-half flaunting a boyfriend that would eventually mean nothing to her, romantically speaking, anyway. She cared for no one but herself. It was a proven fact. She had never, not once in her bitter, miserable life, taken anyone else’s feelings into consideration. In fact, she preferred to toy with emotions rather than take any interest in them.

“He’s my childhood best friend, it’s not cool! I wouldn’t go kiss Cat!” he replied, his voice raised. They were starting to draw a crowd, even this early in their argument. It was amazing that people still stood and watched these fights, it wasn’t like they were a rare occurrence.

“You’d kiss Tori, though,” the goth said dryly, her tone dripping with venom. Her phone was now stored in the waistband of her skirt and she was glaring at him with her harshly cold, blue eyes.

“That’s completely different.”

“Is it? You don’t see me trying to make out with Joshua Mason.” Joshua Mason was a member of the Hollywood Arts’ football team. He and Beck had been having it out on-and-off since the first semester of freshman year. It was unclear how the rivalry had even begun, but the footballer had taken it way too far last year. He had tried to kiss Jade at one of the school events when she wasn’t exactly sober. Obviously, she had pushed him off of her and threatened him with scissors. That did not make it okay.

“You’re smarter than that,” Beck said after a moment, having to regain his composure.

“I thought that about you, too,” Jade retorted, walking away.

“We’re not done talking about this!” he called after her, but she was gone.

This was the first time Tori had seen the former couple properly interact with one another since their breakup. The fight was probably healthy in some horrible, twisted way. At least they were communicating, right? Although, the Latina wasn’t the biggest fan of them not ignoring each other anymore. When they had been, Jade had been tolerable and a lot less mean. She’d almost acted like a normal person. She would spend time with her, without insulting or berating her too harshly. Tori liked it better that way.

The rest of the week was spent in an awkward silence. It was the last week before winter break, so their teachers were letting them do whatever during classes. In any other situation, this would have been amazing. The friends could have discussed plans for over break and maybe made some plans. But, they were all too uncomfortable to talk. Beck and Jade were glaring at one another like they’d murdered each other’s family, Andre was too busy trying to figure out who he should be backing up to speak, Cat probably didn’t even know what was going on and Tori was mad at the goth too. Robbie and Rex had attempted to diffuse the situation by insulting each other, but that may be just made it worse.

Tori spent Christmas with her grandfather, who had flown up from Florida for the holidays. It was nice. Nice being the only descriptive she could think of when talking about the day later. She had been uneasy since Hollywood Arts had broken off for the break. On the last day, there had been a huge fight between all six of the friends. It had started with Beck and Jade (obviously), but some things were said that caused the rest of the group to get involved. They were mostly trying to defend themselves and ended up passing the blame onto someone else for the things they had done. Tori didn’t know what had happened to them. Only four months ago, everything had been perfectly fine. Everyone was getting along. It was unclear when and how everything went wrong.

She only spoke to Andre while they were off. They had pointless conversations about Katy Perry’s new album and what movies they had watched. It was almost tiring, tip-toeing on eggshells around each other, afraid to offend the other person. He was supposed to be her best friend. This wasn’t how best friends acted around each other. They were supposed to be cracking jokes and poking fun at one another. But, so much in Tori’s life wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

Sometimes, she prayed that Jade wasn’t her soulmate, and she was Beck’s instead. It would make everyone’s life so much easier. They had so much chemistry and history, anyway. Dating for three years gives that to you. Tori’s life would be so much better if anyone else on the planet was her soulmate. She knew that. Her friend group wouldn’t be holding on by the skin of its teeth, and she wouldn’t constantly be freaking out about what was going to happen next in their far too complicated relationship if you could call it that.

“Tori, can I talk to you about something?” her mother asked one afternoon when the two of them were sitting on the couch, watching Celebrities Underwater.

“Sure,” Tori said, muting the tv.

“Are you alright? I haven’t seen any of your friends since school broke off, and they’re usually here more often than not,” Holly said, her brow furrowing in concern.

“They’re spending time with their families,” the teenager replied quickly, really not wanting to get into what happened between them.

“Are you sure? I saw Cat and Jade at the mall a few days ago.”

“Cat is staying with Jade while her family’s in Ohio getting treatment for her brother.”

“Oh.”

Tori went upstairs after that, barely escaping her mother’s interrogation. It was unlike the older Vega to ask about her friends. Her parents were in no way negligent, but they weren’t very attentive, either. They liked to leave the girls at home while they went on vacations and trips as often as possible. They were loving, but they just weren’t around that much.

She used homework as a distraction. She had been given two history essays and several music assignments over the break that she needed to get started on, so she did those to keep her mind off of all the drama going on in her friend group.

It would be safe to assume that Tori Vega had the most dramatically complicated friend group possible. First of all, a third of them were exes, all three of the guys had crushes on at least one of the girls and two of the girls were soulmates. The fact that they were in a highly competitive performing arts school did not help. The time Cat had beat out Jade for a role still gave Tori nightmares. They had had petty squabbles before over trivial things that every group of friends has, but nothing like this had ever happened, not while she was at the school, anyway. There had never been any major arguments over a boy. Of course, there was the Danny incident, but that seemed mild compared to what was going on now. Beck and Jade were two very intense people, in very different ways. They had been fighting since Tori had met them, but only one fight had gotten as explosive as their one before the break, and that was when they broke up. This had ripped the entire group apart. Moose, as perfect as he was, had ruined everything.

When Hollywood Arts started again, it was extremely awkward. Beck and Jade were unable to even look at each other without becoming enraged, Robbie and Rex’s attempts to diffuse the situation through jokes was just making things worse and, Tori and Andre just resorted to silence. Even Cat sensed the tension, this was really bad. The tension had caused the six of them to be on their phones instead of talking.

Sikowitz did not like this. Their apparent (blatant) addiction to technology was distracting his students from rehearsals and his classes and it was getting on his last nerve. So, he made a bet with them; if they could last a week without using their phones, laptops or any other modern devices, they would get an A for the semester. He knew that they wouldn’t pass that up.

They all agreed to do it, but it was so much harder than they expected. Apart from the fact that they now had the inability to talk to each other, the friends had no means of talking to anyone else. It was just the six of them sitting at their table at lunch, in complete silence. The fact that Sinjin had told the whole school about a video none of them had seen did not make their task any easier.

After the second day, the boys realised that Cat was going to cave. She wouldn’t last until the end of the week and they didn’t want her to ruin the best for them. So, it became a competition. The boys won, the girls were gullible and fell for a stupid trick. It was worth it.


	6. Tori Fixes Beck and Jade

Two weeks later, the situation hadn’t gotten much better. The friendship had somehow reverted back to the way it had been before the Moose incident, but there was still quite a lot of tension between the group. Beck and Jade were still having elongated stand-offs and she had managed to become even more terrifying. Tori had seen her make a boy cry and pee his pants when he asked to borrow notes. He was being rude (as rude as Beck could be) by rejecting any form of social interactions with a girl who wasn’t in their friend group. He had blown off a girl, Meredith because he had a fake jar of coins that he had to count. This was getting exhausting.

“Why won’t you go out with girls anymore? You had no problem with it before Moose got here,” Tori said after she had been dragged into the janitor’s closet.

“Because of Jade,” he said, running a hand through his ridiculously fluffy hair. He let out a sigh, “if Jade knew that I was dating someone new before she was, her head would explode like Trina’s too-tight pants.”

“I know she’s jealous, but you two have been broken up for months. I don’t think she’ll get angry about you moving on after half-a-year,” she said, choosing her words carefully.

“I don’t want to make her angry,” he said, obviously meaning that he didn’t want to her hurt her. The two things were one and the same. He still had feelings for her. It was difficult, Jade West was a demon in an angel’s body.

“Why did you break up with her if you were just going to act like this?” Tori asked, genuine curiosity washing over her. The question had not come out as compassionately as she would have liked, but he didn’t seem to be offended.

“She told me that she had found her soulmate, she broke up with me. Even if she hadn’t have left that night, the relationship wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” Beck said, looking solemn. He looked sad, the way he had looked the night of the breakup as if the emotional wounds were still fresh.

“Oh. I’m sorry that you two weren’t in it for the long haul. You were good for each other,” she said after a few moments of not knowing what to say. They had broken up over her. _Her_. It nearly knocked the wind out of her, Jade had been thinking about them. That was new.

This conversation really did not help her figure out her wildly mixed feelings towards her soulmate. It made them worse, actually. The goth maybe did have feelings after all. But, she was so confusing when she fell victim to them. One minute she was being a stone-cold bitch and screaming about something, the next she was sitting in her car at two in the morning listening to show tunes and smiling like a child on Christmas. It was frustrating more than anything.

Beck smiled weakly at this comment and left the closet. He slung his bag over his shoulder before giving the small room a sad look and leaving. By the looks of it, his heart was honestly broken. This made Tori feel terrible. Indirectly, she was the cause of these feelings and it really wasn’t good for her ego.

But, she had things other than Beck’s lovesickness to be thinking about. She had to figure out whether or not she would be performing at the Full Moon Jam this year. Last year, she had majorly embarrassed Ryder Daniels. So, if she were to sing again, she would have to do something that came level with that. Although, her throat had been playing up lately. It would be better for her health if she didn’t sing. She wouldn’t want to damage her voice. Andre was just DJing, anyway.

Beck came back to Tori the day after, needing girl help. He was still deathly afraid of his ex-girlfriend getting jealous, so he needed a way to take Meredith to the Full Moon Jam without Jade killing her. Maybe, just maybe, if Jade started dating someone new, she wouldn’t be so mad. It was unlikely, but definitely possible. Getting her that date would be the hard part. Nearly every boy in the school, bar Sinjin, was afraid of her. Not even Andre, who claimed to be in love with her just a year ago, wouldn’t even entertain the idea of them dating. Plus, she wasn’t ready for a relationship yet. Tori would be the person, but that would mean having to talk to Jade and actually make a move, which wasn’t something she particularly wanted to do. Andre had the idea of paying a guy to go out with her (it was clearly a joke). But, she, of course, took it literally and paid a boy in their grade by the name of Gilbert to ask her out. It had backfired horrendously, and Jade found out about Tori’s plan. That hadn’t been pleasant, either. She threatened to kill both the singer and Andre with a roll of toilet paper. There was no way in hell that she would ever forgive Tori for this.

“Explain yourself, now,” the goth demanded after dragging the brunette into the library at lunch later that day.

The Latina opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. What could she possibly say? She had probably offended the other girl to the point that an apology would never do it justice, “I don’t know what to say to you.”

“I thought you were better than that,” the blue-eyed girl said, sounding beyond enraged.

“So, did I. I don’t know what came over me. I was trying to help Beck. I never meant to make you angry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” the singer promised, guilt consuming her.

“Well, you did. Thank you for telling the student body that you have to pay to date me like some sort of prostitute.” That was the last thing she said to the other teenager for several days. She didn’t even talk to her when she went to wish the raven-haired girl good luck before she performed at the Full Moon Jam. She deserved to be ignored.

Jade was amazing. She always was. Her vocals were perfect. The song suited her voice amazingly. But, she was singing it to her ex-boyfriend. She kept looking over to him as she sang every line. “God, she’s perfect,” were the words he responded with. He was in some sort of trance as she sang, taking a few steps forward. He didn’t even touch his hair for the entire duration of the song. His whole attention was on the angel on the stage.

If that wasn’t bad enough, once the goth was done singing, Beck made his way onto the stage, standing before his ex-girlfriend with the goofiest smirk on his face.

“I miss you,” he said, looking hopeful.

 “So?” she responded, her tone playful as she quirked her pierced eyebrow.

That was when the kissed and Tori couldn’t take it anymore. She felt tears rise in her eyes and sobs catch in her throat. She had to get out of there as quickly as possible. She struggled to breathe as she stumbled out of the Asphalt Café. By the time she had reached a bus stop, she was hyperventilating and crying uncontrollably. She didn’t know how to handle this. That was her soulmate messing up, again. It was so painfully frustrating. Nothing was ever the way it was supposed to be in her life and she was tired of it.

She took the bus home. Thankfully, she was the only person on the vehicle apart from the driver, and she would also have the house to herself tonight as her parents were in New York and Trina was staying at a friend’s house. There mere thought of social interaction made her want to vomit.

 _Sorry. I know you kind of liked him._ Was the text she got from Cat an hour later. It was the most un-Cat text message she had ever received. Usually, there would be seven crying emojis and too many exclamation marks and it wouldn’t sound so blunt. She had probably been told to send her that by one of their friends.

The texts messages were what she was expecting, so she turned her phone off. What she was not expecting was for someone to come over. So, the knock on the door was unexpected, to say the least. It was probably Andre, calling to tell her that Beck and Jade were back together, and everything was perfect again. Tori was not in the mood. She had been sitting on her couch, home alone, crying and listening to Rent. She also was in no state to see anyone.

But, the person at the door was not her best friend, it was Jade. She was dressed in a hoodie and a pair of leggings, her hair in a bun and her face free of makeup. No wonder it had taken her an hour-and-a-half to get here.

“You okay?” she asked, that smile of hers making an appearance.

“Why are you here?” the brunette asked bitterly, crossing her arms over chest.

“You just left,” the goth said, mirroring the words Tori had said the night of the Platinum Music Awards.

She opened the door and let Jade in. They both took a seat on the couch, only a few inches apart from one another.

“I know you’re mad at me, but can you hear me out?” the blue-eyed teenager asked, leaning her head on the other girl’s shoulder. The room flooded with colour, but it wasn’t as exciting as breathtaking as it normally was. Everything seemed dull.

“When am I not mad at you?” Tori asked glumly into the goth’s hair.

“I’m not back with Beck. You didn’t say it, but I know that’s why you left. As soon as the shock passed, I pushed him off of me and I called him an asshole. He’s not the person I’m supposed to be with,” Jade explained, lifting her head and making direct eye contact with her soulmate.

“Then why did you write him a song?”

“The song wasn’t for him.”

“It wasn’t?”

The goth shook her head in response, waiting for the other girl to figure out what was going on.

“Then who was it for?” she asked, hopeful but not certain on her suspicions.

Jade didn’t reply. Her blue-green eyes were boring into Tori’s brown ones as if she was trying to find the brunette’s soul. They both inched closer, leaning in. Eventually, their lips touched, and they were kissing. It was slow and sweet and a lot gentler than Tori would have expected. She had anticipated hard, bruising kisses that left you breathless and in need of an ice pack. But, it was the complete opposite. The goth’s hands were cupping the singer’s face and hers were tangling into the ends of the actress’s coloured hair.

For the second that Tori had had her eyes open, she saw colour in a way she never had before. Everything was so much more vibrant and beautiful. She had never imagined the kitchen wall’s to be that bright of a blue, she’d never noticed how soft the purple in her soulmate’s hair was.

Tongues were then added to the equation, and Jade’s fingers were twisted in the hem of Tori’s shirt. There was no feeling of urgency or need though, the kiss was still as slow paced as it had been when it had first started. By now, they were almost out of oxygen and they were going to have to break apart in order to breathe. But, right now, that didn’t seem like a necessity. All either of them could focus on was each other.

After the last few months – hell, after the last two years, this was so unexpected. Even though it was fate that this was going to happen, it hadn’t ever seemed plausible due to the fact that they hadn’t started getting along until very recently. But, it was so perfect that Tori never wanted it to end. She wanted to take back every single negative thing she ever said about Jade. At that moment, she didn’t want to think about anything that wasn’t Jade.


	7. One Thousand Berry Balls

A shift in weight of her mattress woke Tori up the next morning. She rubbed her eyes and saw Jade sitting in the edge of the bed, pulling her hoodie over her head. The brunette didn't have to see the other girl's face to know that she was either crying or on the verge of. Her small frame shook softly as she pulled a pale hand through her raven bed head. The goth stood up, only wearing a pair of burgundy lace underwear on her bottom half. Her blue eyes flitted through the small bedroom and fell upon the Latina, who was staring at her intently.

"Where're you going?" Tori asked, sitting up against her bed frame. She bit the skin around her thumbnail, praying that the answer she was expecting didn't come out of her soulmate's mouth.

Jade hesitate, looking to God for a second and licked her teeth, "my mom called. I have to get home." This was a lie, which was blatant, which was odd, she was usually an impeccable liar. She was usually better at deception than she was at telling the truth.

"Since when do you listen to what your mom says?" the other girl asked. This earned her a harsh glare and she instantly regretted what she had said, "sorry, never mind. That isn't my business."

The goth didn't verbally respond, but rather gave a curt nod and navigated her leggings which had been discarded near the door. She pulled them up last her pale legs and left the room without uttering a word of goodbye. Tori felt her heart drop, dangling somewhere between the pit of her stomach and where it usually sat. It contracted painfully as she watched her soulmate shut the door with a soft thud.

_Don't tell a soul. -J_

That was the text she received an hour later. It wasn't an apology; or even an explanation. It was a threat, some sort of warning — and there would be definite consequences if it were breached. This was it. This was the worst thing Jade had ever done. It was the worst thing she could ever do. Of course, she would do this, though. She was Jade and she did what she pleased. She didn't care who it affected, as long as she was satisfied.

Just hours ago, they were kissing and telling each other that their maybe feelings were both mutual and certain. Now, Tori was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Every so often, her brown eyes would drift to the door, hoping to see Jade come back through, claiming that it was all a joke and they could finally be happy together. But that wouldn't happen. It wasn't worth hoping for anymore. At that moment, Tori wished that any other person in this godforsaken planet could be her soulmate, even Robbie to Sinjin would be better than the soul-sucking one that was hers.

Jade wasn't worth the heartbreak anymore. That would be if Tori could feel anything. She wanted to yell, scream, sob until her throat was raw and she could no more. But, her eyes had never been drier. She tried to force herself to cry; any other day she could fake it no problem. But, she was feeling completely numb and it was impossible to relinquish the angry emptiness that had manifested inside of her. Jade had never been worth with feeling like this.

Perhaps Tori could just go against what the universe had planned for her and just find another girl. A girl who was empathetic and didn't date Canadian boys right in front of her soulmate. A girl who was kind and smart and beautiful and who wasn't afraid to speak her mind and could knock the wind out of a whole room of people with just a glance.

This was when she realised that she was describing the girl she had been trying to be angry with. But, she just couldn't. She was Jade. There was just something so likeable about her abhorrent behaviour that was tantalisingly worrying. She was perfect in actuality.

Tori decided that she needed a distraction from Jade. She needed anything to take her blurring mind away from her. So, she pulled her phone from its charging cord and carefully tapped in her passcode of 5233. She logged into The Slap, watching as the buffering sign pinwheeled torturously slow. Damn her parents got not paying for the faster internet. She should have known that this would be a bad idea. She should have known that Jade's rejection of Beck would be all over both her timeline and the trending page. They were Hollywood Arts' power couple and they had officially just crumbled to ashes.

"I miss you," he said, running his fingers through his obnoxiously perfect hair, looking hopeful.

 _"So?" She replied, quirking her pierced eyebrow with a sly smirk. It was as if she knew what was about to happen. This is when he captured her lips with his. The kiss lasted for five_ seconds _before she pushed him off. Just long enough to make him think his actions were successful, short enough for it to believable that she didn't want that to happen. Once they were separated, she slapped him forcibly across his flawless face, muttering, "asshole," as she exited the stage, leaving him standing there, absolutely horrified._

Tori didn't know why she watched the video in its entirety, but it's what got her to cry. The tears finally came, but they never stopped. She threw her phone away from her, scrambling to get as far away from it as possible as sobs wracked her shaking body. Jade had done this all on purpose. It was all a game to her. She didn't care enough about anyone for this to even slightly guilt her. She didn't care about anyone but herself.

_Fuck You._

That was the last text message Tori Vega sent for three days. It was the last interaction she had with another person for three days. Thank the lord that her parents didn't care enough to come home and that her sister was too self-absorbed to notice her drastic change in behaviour. She sat in her room, staring at one of the periwinkle walls (they were actual neon yellow, but not in this state) stray tears rolling down her face every now and then. She wondered how Jade was doing. If this was eating her up as much as it was her soulmate.

The answer was yes.

Jade was sitting on the floor of the nursery of her baby sister, holding the child and talking about how much of a disaster her life was. Of course, baby Bria wouldn't understand a word, but it was comforting that someone was listening. It wasn't often that someone did.

"You know, Bria, I hope you stay this tiny forever so you don't have to go through all this. I hope that your soulmate isn't a girl who is the most insufferable human being alive. I hope that you never have to tell dad that you have to spend the rest of your life with a girl," she said gently, stroking her sister's cheek. The baby was only a few weeks old, she didn't even know who Jade was, but she was staring up at her with the same blue eyes (not that Jade could see them, her vision entirely monochromatic) that she had and it all just felt right.

Unlike Tori who couldn't feel anything, Jade had never felt this many thing in her life. It was disorienting, really. She wished she would stop crying and that regret wasn't burning a hole in her chest in the way that it was.

She'd set off to San Francisco to visit her father as soon as she had left the Vega house, she needed to get as far away from her soulmate as possible without actually having to figure out where she'd stay. She'd used the excuse of wanting to see her sister when she had called her mother. She'd only seen the baby twice, after all. Although, she hadn't been half as interested when either of her brothers (their names were Oakley and Jensen) was born.

She just needed to get away from the overwhelming feeling that everything was going to crash and burn. The feeling that what little of a relationship they had was going to come to screeching halt and everything would go up in flames; exactly the same way that her relationship with Beck had ended.

But, Tori wasn't Beck and it was written in the stars that they would fall in love and be together until the day they died — she just hadn't figured that out yet.

Jade didn't come to school on Monday, she was still up visiting her father. The only person to notice was Tori, but she didn't dare mention it. The group was eerily silent as they walked to Sikowtiz's first-period class. It was dreadfully similar to the atmosphere between them when they hit back from winter break. No one was really fighting (not when Jade was absent, anyway), but nobody knew what to say. What do you say to the guy who was just rejected by the only girl that he ever loved?

The situation really wasn't helped by the announcement of the Cow Wow, a Western Luau-themed dance that would take place the following Saturday. Beck didn't seem to phased about it, but he didn't talk and seemed to almost flinch when someone spoke to him. He was trapped in his own little bubble that he'd made himself to avoid talking about anything.

Jade came back to school on Thursday, dawning no explanation of where she was the last three days. She just sat herself between Cat and Andre at their lunch table and pretended everything was the way it had been last Friday. It wasn't, never had it been more different than their usual situation. Their friendship was officially crumbling. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, really. Who could you blame for Beck still being in love with Jade when she had moved on? Well, you could definitely blame her for how she handled the rejection, but he also kissed her in front of the entire school. This went both ways. Who could you blame for their friends not knowing what to say to them, for caring too much to take sides?

Tori got herself a job at Yotally Togurt to distract herself from the mess that was her social life. She would be working with Andre, but he was the only person she wouldn’t complain about having to see. The job wasn’t great, she had to wear a hideous costume and try and sell yoghurt balls that looked like nuclear waste. It didn’t help that she thought to stuff them in her hat and they all melted, just an hour before they had to be at the Cow Wow.

The dance wasn’t terrible. She and Andre were performing, so they spent the majority of the night preparing for that (stalling so they wouldn’t have to see their ‘friends’, really). Jade was sulking somewhere with one of the girls from her visual arts class, Robbie and Cat were trying to make each other jealous and Beck was surrounded by a gaggle of cheerleaders who were oh so sympathetic to his heartbreak, degrading Jade in every way that they could.

After their performance, Jade and her friend, Jenna, came to talk to Tori and Andre and congratulate them on a good job.

“Hey, Tor, can I talk to you for a sec?” Jade asked, looking at the ground, her cheeks flushing. It had been two weeks since the last time they’d spoken. That awkward conversation before she left the Vega house was the last time they had talked.

“Oh, yeah. Sure,” Tori said, slightly taken aback. She let the other girl take her hand and lead her into the school, presumably so no one would overhear their conversation. Coloured lights twinkled around them.

“You called me Tor,” the brunette said once she had pulled into the janitor’s closet.

“Yeah, I did,” the film major said, her bottom lip between her white teeth.

“Wh-” Tori was cut off by Jade pushing her against the wall and kissing her full in the mouth. It was different than the way it was the first time. This was hard, urgent and full of need. This kiss was so fast paced that the younger Vega sister could feel her heart beating against her chest. The only time she got to breathe was when Jade started to trail her lips down Tori’s neck. She placed some kisses along her exposed collarbones before reverting her lips back to the other girl’s.

“Wait. Stop, no,” Tori managed to breathe out, her chest heaving as it tried to find oxygen.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have ...” Jade trailed off, playing with the tie of her shirt. She looked mortified.

“No, it’s just I’ve never done this before,” the singer said, reaching her hand out to trail a pattern on the other girl’s shoulder.

“Neither have I,” the raven-haired girl said, sounding slightly offended.

“And you want to lose your virginity in a janitor’s closet?” The brunette asked, raising a brow.

“You want to come back to my place?” The paler girl said, already moving to leave the closet. She didn’t need an answer when Tori grabbed her hand and followed her.

They didn’t talk about anything. They kissed, they had sex and they went to sleep. Tori left after breakfast the next morning. This is what their relationship was as of now, but it was better than it could have been.


	8. The Bad Roommate

Jade West was getting on Tori Vega’s last nerve. She was shutting herself out again and would never be anywhere if she didn’t absolutely have to be. She practically sprinted out of classes and stormed away if anyone tried to talk to her in the hallway. She could never be found during lunch and was already driving off when the bell rang to signal the end of the day. Tori did not know what was going on with the girl as she had reverted to her immediate post-breakup ways. Although, she had still been posting on TheSlap and had apparently video chatted with Cat within the last few days.

Tori really thought that something was happening between them, but Jade was extremely unpredictable (which she was very proud of) and did things for unfathomable reasons. Who knew what was going on inside her head. She barely spoke in class anymore, which was enormously odd, so there must be something wrong. The two girls had not spoken since Tori’s sleepover at Jade’s, but they held uneasy, elongated eye contact in class and stared at one another when they knew the other was not looking. If only they noticed.

By the end of a week of entirely no contact, Tori had had enough and dragged Jade into the janitor’s closet while she was mid-conversation with one of her friends. She almost choked on her coffee at both the sudden physical content and the burst of colour before her eyes.

“What!” the goth demanded once the door was shut and she had readjusted herself to her black and white surroundings. She pursed her lips as she looked at her soulmate expectantly.

“You’re being a gank,” the singer responded pointedly, putting a hand on each of her hips.

“And this is news because?” the raven-haired girl said, rolling her blue eyes. She looked to the floor, though; obviously knowing what this was about and feeling some sort of regret or embarrassment.

“You’ve been avoiding me. Never pegged you as the type of person to sleep with someone and never talk to them again,” the Latina responded, taking the other girl’s hand in her own, displaying the dull colours of their almost regular meeting place.

“I told you, I’m not ready for any of this,” Jade responded in a very sudden small voice, sounding so sheepish and self-conscious. Tori had seen the girl literally sob her heart out on multiple occasions, but she somehow seemed so much more vulnerable in this moment.

“You’re still in love with Beck,” the brunette stated. She didn’t ask, she was nearly certain that she knew she was right.

“No, I don’t think so. I mean, I’ll always love him, but I don’t love him the way I used to. The feelings aren’t romantic anymore,” the actress sighed and pulled her fingers through her hair, her hand shaking slightly, “it’s my dad.”

“Your dad?”

“He hates me. And, if he finds out that his screw-up daughter is into girls, he’ll disown me, and I’ll never get to see Bria and Oakley again.”

Tori did not know who they were, but nodded solemnly, “we don’t have to tell your dad yet. We can still do this and keep it a secret.”

“No. I don’t want to sneak around anymore. I don’t know how we’ll tell people … this isn’t how things were supposed to be!” Jade raised her voice in frustration and put her face in her hands, “I didn’t mean that. It’s just …”

“I get it. I don’t know how to come out either. It’ll be okay, we can do it together. Plus, I know your dad isn’t the best, but he wouldn’t keep you from seeing them. I … I actually don’t know who they are, sorry,” the younger Vega sister said.

“They’re my brother and sister from my dad. Oakley is three and Bria is just over a month old,” the blue-eyed girl said, the smallest of smiles tugging on her lips.

“I thought it was just you and Jensen,” the brunette said, happy that Jade was finally talking about herself. She felt like she knew nothing about the girl.

“On my mom’s side, yeah. They live up in San Fran, so I don’t get to see them much and I don’t really like their mom.”

“She’s mean?”

“No. She’s actually a lot like you. But, I don’t like her because she’s only eight years older than me and she thinks because of that we’re best friends,” Jade said, her lips drawing into a fine line. She looked uncomfortable, she shifted slightly and tried to sway the conversation, “how about we go out Saturday. You know, well, not as friends … but. You know what I mean!”

For some reason, the goth’s fluster made butterflies in Tori’s stomach explode violently. She had never once in her life considered the other girl cute, sexy and downright gorgeous, yes, obviously. But never cute (she would have died, in all fairness).

“Sure. Where do you want to go?” a ridiculous smile played on the brunette’s face as she rubbed circle on her soulmate’s hand, trying to stop her from getting too embarrassed.

“There’s this play in the theatre we did Well Wishes in, it looks fun. My mom got me tickets for Christmas. I was supposed to go see it with Cat but she’s going on a not-date with Robbie. So, you’ll come, right?” Jade’s blue eyes considered the other girl’s for a long while, enchanting Tori so much that she was unable to answer the question.

“Hello? Earth to Vega? I just asked you out on a damned date and you’re staring at me the way Andre looks at our history teacher.”

“What? Sorry. I just … I like your eyes,” Tori said, blushing deeply. She hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but those were the only words in her head as she spoke.

“Thanks,” Jade coughed, looking elsewhere; anywhere but at Tori, “so you want to go?”

“Oh, yeah. Totally that sounds great,” if the Latina was being totally honest with herself, she had no idea what she had just agreed to. She was too distracted by Jade’s heavenly irises to pay attention to what she was saying. Serves her right.

Tori and Jade weren’t dating, but they weren’t exactly friends either. They were somewhere in between and therefore they had started hanging out more. In secret, of course. They would never admit to another soul that they would voluntarily spend time with one another.

“I’m going to seriously hurt someone!” Jade shouted as she entered the Vega residence unannounced, as she had been doing over the last several weeks. She was in the worst mood she’d been in weeks. Some asshole had posted a photo of her scratching her nose as the photo of their school on Pear Maps and it happened to look like she was picking her nose. And, of that wasn’t bad enough, Cat had told the entire student body to go look at it! Jade was ready to scream or strangle a bear.

Unfortunately, Tori had not told the other girl that Andre had moved into her house over the weekend to write his song for Ko-Jeezy. It was fair to say that both of them were thoroughly surprised to see the other.

“Girl, calm down. What are you doing here?” he asked, his piano playing coming to an abrupt halt. He pulled his hair away from his face as he peered at the girl.

“I could ask you the same thing, Harris,” the goth said, folding her arms over her chest as she tried to think of a reason why she would ever be in this house without the rest of their group.

“I’m crashing here for a while. I asked you first, Jade,” Andre said pointedly, getting up from the piano stool to walk towards his usually irrational friend.

“I … uh … you know, we have a project for,” she paused to try and think of a class that the two girls shared that Andre wasn’t in, “creative writing.”

“Oh, cool. She’s in her room,” the boy said, not even close to seeming convinced.

Jade gave him a nod of appreciation and started up the stairs. She could hear Tori listening to music as she reached the landing. She was listening to Cat Stevens, a singer Jade recommended (even though Tor called it ‘forest music’). For some ungodly reason, this brought the most intensely overwhelming fluttering in Jade’s stomach. All anger and desires to maim someone suddenly vanished. She had never in her life felt like this about anything. Not about Beck, not about coffee, not about the string of grotesque horror films that she claimed to love more than her mother. Tori made her feel like that.

“Hey, Vega,” the goth said, smiling wickedly as she shut the bedroom door behind her. She pulled off her black jacket and threw it on the desk chair.

“Hi, Jade,” the brunette said, giggling slightly as she shut her laptop, “what are you doing here? It’s my turn to come to see you. I was about to get ready to leave.”

“Clearly,” the acting-major said, eyeing her soulmate, who was wearing pyjamas and in bed at six in the evening, “I wanted to come to see you.”

She bent down and kissed the other girl briefly before pulling away for a second, her face lingering an inch away. Tori let out a frustrated sigh and pulled the paler back into the kiss, pulling Jade on top of her. This escalated quite quickly. Within fifteen minutes, the only garments either of them were wearing was their underwear and Jade had Tori pinned against the headboard of the bed as they continued to make out.

“Hey, Y'all. Tori, your mo – aargh!”

Of course, someone had to ruin this. Andre walked into the room without knocking. He looked both traumatised and mortified as he looked on at the situation with wide eyes.

“Andre! Get out!” Jade screamed, toppling off of the other girl in an attempt to save some of her dignity. The boy did as he was told without hesitation. Before she had even finished her sentence, the door had slammed, signalling him leaving.

“Fuck,” Tori exhaled, picking her bra from the top of her bedside lamp. This was bad. So terribly, terribly awful. Never once had she ever wanted to be swallowed up by a hole more than she did right now. She had never once in her life been so embarrassed. She let her gaze drift to her soulmate, who was sitting on the other side of the bed, still mostly naked. She didn’t make a move to get dressed again but was rather typing furiously on her phone.

“What are you doing?” the singer asked, abandoning her efforts of trying to find her shirt. She sat beside the other girl, trying to look over her shoulder to get a look at what she was typing.

“Damage control,” Jade said simply. That really wasn’t a thorough enough explanation. She seemed to see that and showed her phone to Tori. It was a string of text messages that all went something like this:

_Andre,_

_I don’t care what you think you saw, you saw shit. You will not tell a soul about what you think you may or not have seen. If you do, I’ll slice you mouth to anus and wear your skin like a jacket. Seriously, tell anyone what you think you saw and I’ll staple you to a wall._

_Love always,_

_-J_

Oh, she had a way with words.

“Don’t you think that’s a little harsh - and graphic?” Tori asked, slightly disgusted at the messages.

“Well, he knows what he’s getting into if he tells anyone,” the goth shrugged, pecking the other girl’s lips.

Andre didn’t tell anyone. Thank god. Although, he did start acting so strangely. He would jump every time either of the girls talked to him and would avoid eye contact like the black plague. He no longer sat next to Tori at lunch, Jade did. They held hands under the table and would giggle (Tori giggled, Jade had never once in her life giggled) at the stupid conversations they would be having privately. The other definitely noticed their very abrupt change in behaviour, but no one mentioned it. Not yet, anyway.


	9. Date Night and Meeting the Parents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! My computer has been acting up lately so I've had to write this on my phone, which is why there may be any errors. 
> 
> Anyhoo, happy reading!

Jade picked Tori up at seven on Saturday for their date. They were going to dinner and then a play. Well, it wasn't a date. This was just two soulmates hanging out and probably making out afterwards. It clearly wasn't a date. Clearly. Tori eyed her soulmate's outfit, it was exactly the same as she always wore; a tight black lace shirt, a short black skirt and her black combat boots. Her hair and makeup were as they normally were, but something looked different about her. Somehow, she looked prettier, if that were humanly possible. The singer couldn't explain it, Jade just looked so beautiful at that moment and it was making the other girl insecure.

 "I feel really underdressed, " Tori said after a few seconds, her face burning with embarrassment. Perhaps jeans and her new knee boots weren't a great idea after all.

“What, why? You look gre- fine. It's not as if I'm dressed up, " Jade scoffed, letting her gaze fall to examine the other girl's clothes.

 "I don't know. I just don't like what I'm wearing anymore, I guess. It's stupid, let's just go, " the brunette shrugged, regretting that she said anything at all.

 "You can change if you want, we have time, " the goth said, checking the time on her small leather wristwatch.

 "Will you help me? I'll take way too long on my own and we'll miss our reservation, " Tori pleaded, using Jade's secret (blatant) weakness for brown eyes to her advantage.

 "Fine. But you really can't blame me I get distracted, " Jade said, trudging up the first few stairs, "are you coming?"

 It took just over twenty minutes for the girls to agree on an outfit. It was fairly dark, and little tight -fitted, but it was cute and fit Tori's style, so it was okay. They were only five minutes late for their reservation and were able to blame it on traffic. This was starting to go seemingly well. They ordered their food and kind of just stared at each other for a while, broken small talk occurring every so often. This restaurant was really nice, far nicer than where they would normally eat with their friends, and Tori was honestly a little intimated by it. Her parents wouldn't even take to a place like this. They wouldn't be able to afford it.

 "This place is way too fancy, " she whispered when they were seated, and their waiter was walking away with the drinks order.

 "What do you mean?" Jade didn't seem phased by all the business people in suits and probably thrice divorced women with their new boy-toys and couples that were about the get engaged. She was acting as though they were in a Burger King. She had grown up with this and she thought it was normal.

 "We are the youngest people here, and I don't think I'll be able to afford anything last appetisers," the brunette said sheepishly, her eyes scanning down the menu of ridiculously overpriced food.

 "It's okay. I'm taking you out, so I'll take the bill. You can pay for the next one," the blue-eyed teenager said nonchalantly, this was not a big deal for her.

 "It won't be anywhere like this. It'll probably be Nozu or Karaoke Dokie. I don't even know how you got us in here."

 "Oh, daddy went to law school with the owner. Uncle Romeo gives favours every so often."

 That barely cleared anything up. This was honestly embarrassing, Jade was able to bring her to this beautiful restaurant with a name no one could pronounce, and Tori was only able to bring her to some burger joint.

 "Plus, I don't care where we are, as long as I'm with you," the goth must have sensed her soulmate's discomfort and said the cheesiest thing she could think of because otherwise, she would never utter those words, not if you paid her. Tori smiled weakly, still not feeling great about her financial situation. The Vega's were in no way struggling - they had a really nice house and were putting their daughters through a private performing arts school, but they didn't have the cash lying around to spend one hundred and twelve dollars on a steak. Obviously, the Wests could, and for some reason, it made Toru extremely uncomfortable. She had been more than okay with boys paying for their dates, but it just felt different with a girl. And, they didn't take her to places like this.

 Perhaps this (not)date was not going so well.

 Their food arrived. Jade ordered some overpriced salad and Tori ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was food, so she didn't care. They talked a little about school and their families while the ate. It was nice, just getting to know Jade like this. It was odd that the two had known so little about each other for so long and Tori had just found out that the other girl was vegan and that she had siblings last week. But, Jade had probably found out so much about Tori that she wouldn't dare mention, lest she seems stupid. It was astonishing that they'd know each other for so long but knew so little about one another.

 "I wrote a play, " Jade said suddenly, just after they finished their main course and were waiting on their coffee.

 "Oh?" Tori acknowledged, still trying to decide if she wanted dessert or not, "what's it about?"

 "It's a dark reimagining of The Little Mermaid. I wrote some songs for it, as well as the songs from the movie and Broadway show. It's more of a musical than a play, " the goth explained, acting as though she wasn't insanely excited about this, "Helen is letting me put it on for my final piece."

 "Congrats! You finally wrote a play that didn't disturb the board!" the brunette teased, laughing lightly. She decided she was going to skip dessert.

 "I know! This is kind of a love story, though. No, it's definitely a love story. So, they're letting me put it on as long as I'm not too graphic with the visuals."

 Jade promised to let Tori read the script on Monday as they left the restaurant. Both were practically buzzing with excitement for the okay that they were about to watch, and the one that the raven-haired girl had written.

 The play, which was called Independence, was incredible. It was a horror that started off pretty cliche, a girl walking down the street on her own at night, stumbling into a bar to changer her phone. But, the girl was really an assassin and the whole drunk thing was a ploy to get her victims to pity her. It was so interesting, and Jade definitely enjoyed it and talked about nothing but it for days.

 

 

 

"You want to read my script?" Jade asked, sitting next to Tori at lunch. She didn't give any sort of greeting to the rest of the group, who were in a heated discussion about something she cared little for and did not wish to talk about.

 "Oh my God, yeah!" the singer exclaimed, her eyes widening excited by as the other girl filed through her bag.

 "What script?" Cat and Beck asked simultaneously, both looking offended that they knew about it after Tori. The two girls were supposed to be enemies, after all.

 "It's the script for her final piece, " the brunette said, waving them off so she could read.

 "Why is Tori reading it?" Rex asked obnoxiously.

 "Because Tori wanted to read it. Robbie, shut your puppet up before I rip his arms off, " the goth hissed, looking for something else in her bag. She pulled out a stack of music sheets from a folder and handed them to Andre, "hey, could you look over these and make sure they sound okay and stuff?"

 Andre was still acting strange around her and Tori and looked almost traumatised at being singled out, "sure, yeah. I'll take a look at them. Could I maybe get a script to get a feel of the vibe?"

 "Sure thing. I'll get one for you tomorrow."

 Never had Tori seen Beck Oliver look so angry. He was sitting silently, glaring at Andre with his jaw clenched. If was scary, honestly. Beck was usually the coolheaded one in any situation, calming everyone down when things got heated. Now, he was getting so jealous that it was practically out of character for him. And he was the one who accused Jade of being the jealous one; it was one of the many, many reasons they had broken up, after all.

 "What's up your ass, Oliver?" his ex-girlfriend asked, an eyebrow cocked.

 "Don't know what you're talking about, " Beck spat, getting up from the table and storming away.

 There was a very brief silence. This was usually the complete opposite; she would be getting irrationally mad and he used to have to go after her and calm her down. Ironic.

 

 

 

Tori and Jade were sitting on the couch in the living room of the West residence, watching some idiotic reality show. Their legs were tangled together, the brunette's head resting on the goth's shoulder. They looked so comfortable that Jade's mother didn't want to interrupt them when she came in to tell them that dinner was ready. It was the first time she'd seen her daughter look so at peace in years - she didn't want to ruin that. She suspected that there was something between them; after all, Jade had talked nothing but criticism for the other girl up until only a few months ago. Now she would talk about how amazing Vega is and bow her hair was so shiny today and that her smile made the goth's day better. Jade didn't even talk about Beck like that. She never talked about Beck at all.

 "Hey, girls. Dinner's ready, but I can bring it to you. You just look so comfortable, " Mrs Carter said. She was quite a few years younger than Tori's mother, with having her first child at sixteen. She was practically a mirror image of her daughter, the same short-ish dark hair, the same nose and lips. The only real differences between the two were their eyes, Jade had her father's blue-green ones and Mrs Carter had grey ones, and the teenager's coloured highlights and piercings. They were almost identical.

 "No, we'll be out in a second, Jade smiled at her mother, searching the couch for the remote.

 "You sure?" the matriarch asked, "Michael and Jensen are watching the hockey."

 "I'm sure, " the raven-haired teenager said with a nod, standing up and pulling Tori to follow her.

 The dining room was beautiful. The walls were painted ivory, with mahogany crown moulding. The floor and table that stood in the middle of the room were the same dark wood. A chandelier hung above the table unnecessarily as there were two huge windows letting plenty of light to flood in. Everything about this house was gorgeous.

 Jade's brother Jensen, and her stepfather Michael were already sitting down, plates of food sitting in front of them. A tablet was propped up by the fruit bowl in between them, presumably streaming the hockey game that had been previously mentioned. Two place settings were across from them, with the girl's dinners.

 "How was school?" Jade's mother asked, looking between her two children expectantly.

 "It was cool, " Jensen replied, his mouth full of mashed potatoes, "Mackenzie fell off the climbing frame and split his head open."

 "That doesn't sound cool, " his father winced, but more at the sports game be was watching than the story. 

 "Well, it was, " the boy said, giving Michael a painted look.

 "So, Jade, how was your day?" her mother asked, wanting to get far away from her son's odd perception of cool.

 Dinner was lovely. They talked about their days and their plans for the rest of the night and the next day. It was far more civil than Tori had expected; although, she didn't really know what she was expected. Probably for Jade not to get along with her family and for them to eat in her room, but it was far from that. The West-Carter household was a very close and tight-knit family, and it was a pleasant surprise.

 After they had eaten, the two girls went upstairs to Jade's room. It looked exactly the same as he had the first time Tori had seen it, the walls were painted a grey-toned lilac and decorated with a plethora of band posters and butterflies in cases. The large, four-poster bed stood in the centre of the room, pushed up against the wall, her two antique armchairs and coffee table sit in adjacent. The room, just like the rest of the house, was visually stunning, but in an entirely different way. It was apparent that Mrs Carter had no say in the decoration of this room.

 "Do you want to watch anything?" Jade asked, lying on her stomach on her bed, pulling her laptop open. She had tied her hair back by now and had been picking at her mascara. Still, she looked beautiful. She always did.

 "I don't mind, " Tori replied, her head resting on her arms, assuming the same position as her soulmate, "just nothing too scary."

 They turned some stupid comedy on, neither laid any attention, though. They got quite distracted twenty minutes into the film and ended up just making out. It would have been a great moment until Michael walked into the room, blathering about something or other. Tori was supposed to stay that night but never had she left anywhere as fast.

 "Jadelyn August West, what is going on?"


	10. Confrontations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This isn't really relevant to this story, but I wanted to ask a question.
> 
> I’m not sure how many of you watch Dynasty (its Liz Gillies’ new show), but I saw a headcanon that her character Fallon and Jade were sisters that live with different parents on Tumblr, and was thinking about exploring that idea. Would anyone be interested in that? Please let me know!
> 
> Anyway, happy reading!

Well, this could not be worse. This was the most mortified Jade West had ever been. Her mother and stepfather had just walked in on her making out with her soulmate/ friend with benefits. And, said soulmate had decided to bolt, so she was left there to deal with this situation on her own. Perfect.

"Jadelyn August West, what is going on?" her mother repeated, her voice demanding. She pulled a pale hand through her dark curls and let out a heavy sigh.

Jade gave the most innocent, childlike smile she could muster, reading to think of an explanation to why she was kissing Tori Vega of all people. She couldn't. She'd been lying her way out of things since she could talk, but there was no way out of this one. So, she sighed and said, "she's my soulmate."

There was a silence. Her parents gave each other a sceptical look, looking more than confused. Her mother closed her eyes for a second, her lips moving soundlessly as she silently said the Hail Mary to herself, as she did when she was feeling nervous or aggravated. Her daughter hoped it was the former rather than the later. Michael just looked shocked, his mouth slightly agape, and his eyebrows were furrowed so deeply her looked borderline fearsome. Not that he needed help in that department, with his bald head and tattoos and piercings and biker style beard and clothes.

"She's your soulmate, " Mrs Carter said slightly, exhaling softly. It was like she was trying to process this information and her brain was just not letting her. Her daughter had just come out to her in circumstances that she could have planned to do so, and built was making her blood run cold, "okay."

Jade felt relief flood over her. This was not how she had expected this conversation to go. Well, she didn't expect a negative reaction, just a little more than an okay and a nod. It was almost anticlimactic. The raven-haired teenager tended to do things with a flair of drama, she had been since she was little, and this was just so ... boring. She couldn't have asked for a better reaction from her mother, she just expected something more eventful.

"Baby, come here, " her mother must have sensed her confusion as she pulled her daughter into a big, "you know we'd accept no matter what, right? We love you."

"I know, momma. I love you too, " the teenager sniffed, pulling out of her mother's embrace. She wiped the tears that had pooled under her eyes and laughed wearily. And, just like that, the usually stone-like girl was tearing up. A weight that she didn't even know she was bearing was lifted from her shoulders; whatever was eating her up inside suddenly stopped. This is what it felt like to be happy, she supposed.

They talked for a long time. At first, just about what they had been up to as of late, that gradually turned to everything that had happened with Tori and how bad Jade felt about it.

"I don't know, mom. It's just ... it's just that I don't want to be sneaking around with her. I love her. But, I just don't know how to tell daddy, and Beck. Oh my God, Beck, " the girl rambled, letting her head fall into her hands. Of course, her mother had caused her to think of all the things she was afraid of.

"Why does Beck matter in any of this? This is about you and Tori, not about you and your ex-boyfriend or you and your father, Jade. Don't make obstacles that don't exist."

 

The next day, Tori was nowhere to be found. She wasn't in any of her classes and was refusing to return any calls or answer any text messages. She pulled a Jade and had cut everyone off. Jade had tried not to express her concern when the others in the group. The girls were supposed to be enemies, after all. Although they'd been terrible at keeping up that facade as of late; enemies don't make out with each other half naked or trail each other to the janitor's closet by the wrist. Enemies don't giggle and hold each other's hands under the table. That's just not how they act. Hell, enemies don't even communicate if possible. They were far from enemies and it would be foolish to even entertain the idea that their friends weren't privy to this information. They weren't all stupid, after all. Even Cat was bound to realise something was up.

"Where's Vega?" Jade asked casually at lunch, looking at her phone.

"Shouldn't we be asking you that question?" Andre questioned pointedly.

"You two have been spending an awful lot of time together, " Beck mused, looked bemused.

"Did you tell them?" the girl snarled, her voice dripping venom. Those threats were far from empty.

"Didn't have to, " Andre said, though looking afraid of his friend's tone and expression, "they figured it out on their own, Jade."

No! This could not be happening. The usually spiteful girl narrowed her eyes dangerously and glared between the group. They didn't look afraid of her, though. They had don't on her and were able to use it on her. She didn't remember starting this battle, but they had won.

"Are you ganging up on me?" she spat, her voice thin enough to crack. This had never happened before, and she did not like it.

"We just want to know the truth, Jadey, " Cat said softly, smiling gently at her friend.

"No!" the raven-haired girl yelled in frustration, "no! You don't get to just sit here and ask me about this! This is none of any of your business! Andre, I trusted - we trusted you, and you just threw that back at us. I can't believe this!"

She stormed off, tears of frustration and betrayal threatening to spill. She was just so damn angry at them all. Who did they think they were? They had no right to just outright ask her like that. Well, they didn't actually ask her. But, the insinuation was blatant and it was so disrespectful. She opened up her car and just sat there for a while. She rested her head on the steering wheel and sobbed into it. Tori had done this to her. Vega had made her a softie and now she was crying in the school parking lot. There was no way of her looking more like a loser than in that moment.

Jade thanked every deity to which she didn't believe that none of her supposed friends followed her. They were smarter than that.

After twenty minutes, the thought of going back into school and facing anyone made her stomach churn. So, she started up her car and drove home as fast as she could. No one was home. Her mother and Michael were working and Jensen was still at school. It was two o'clock on a Thursday, after all. She'd be home alone for a few hours.

One of the girls in her creative writing class texting to see where she was. The text was ignored. Jade sat cross-legged on her bed, staring dejectedly at the wall opposite. That was where a shelf adorning jars filled with various things resided. Shed almost forgotten about it. She'd almost forgotten a lot of things lately. She forgot that her ex-boyfriend was incredibly jealous; jealous in a way that lit her to shame. She forgot that her friends were nosy asshats who knew no boundaries. She' forgotten that she had friends before she dated Beck, and, now, they couldn't even make eye contact anymore.

Maybe she should get back in their good graces, make friends again. She needed to; they may be antisocial misfits filled like rage (simply akin to her), but they accepted her and wouldn't question (ambush) her with questions that weren't their business.

 

"Why're you home early?" Mrs Carter asked once she got home from work. She smelled like over-expensive perfume and stale cigarette smoke. She must have been with clients today.

"Didn't feel like dealing with anyone, " the teenager shrugged, her gaze still fixed on the jar that held the fatty lump from the cab driver's back.

"You're dissociating, " her mother scolded. Screw her and her psychiatrist to the stars attitude.

"And you're prying, " Jade mocked, her eyes still locked on the shelves. She tried to rip her gaze from them, but they just wouldn't.

"Tell me what's going on."

"No."

"Jadelyn?"

"Delilah?"

Mrs Carter pursed her lips. How she hated her daughter calling her by her first name, and Jade knew that. She was doing this to get a reaction, but the mother was not going to give her that satisfaction, "I'll be in my study if you need me."

She got no response, her daughter's eyes still glued to the wall.

 

Jade didn't sleep that night. Her overactive imagination was preventing her from doing so. Between Tori not being at school and her friends interrogating her, she had too much to think about to possibly have time to sleep. She looked at the clock for the fourth time that night: four twelve AM.

Just as she had gotten a grasp of unconsciousness, and was pulling it towards herself, the light of her phone lit up the room, letting the sleep slip right through her fingers.

**_Vega_ **

_You_ _still_ _up?_

The goth scoffed. The girl had been MIA all day, and now, at four in the goddamned morning, she was looking to socialise.

**_Jade_ **

_Where_ _were_ _you?_ - _J_

She didn't answer the question but rather asked another.

_**Vega** _

_Can_ _I_ _come_ _over_

**_Jade_ **

_Not_ _your_ _booty_ _call_ , _Vega!_ - _J_

_**Jade** _

_Fine_. _Whatever_. - _J_

There was a knock at the door. Tori was here. Thank God her mother slept like a dead log and the boys were at a baseball tournament thing for the weekend, or else the unexpected visitor would have been thrown out.

"God! Are you stupid? You never knock on the door. It's five in the fucking morning!" Jade hissed, letting her soulmate into the house and locking the door again.

"I'm sorry! You just show up at my house at midnight and nothing is said to you!" Tori retorted defensively, folding her arms over her chest.

"Whatever, babe. What do you want?" the actress yawned, waltzing into the kitchen to make coffee. There was no point trying to go to sleep now.

"You just called me babe, " the brunette gasped, fixed in her spot in the entrance hall.

"I what?" the taller girl asked, squinting slightly. She couldn't see without her contacts.

"You called me babe, " Tori repeated, sounding more smug than confused now.

"I'm fucking delirious, dude. I haven't slept and you're giving me attention, " the raven-haired girl shrugged, taking a sip from her mug and sighing deeply.

"Language, " the Latina snapped, looking stern. She had just gone straight into mom mode, and it was weird.

 

"What do you want, Vega?" Jade asked. It was now six thirty and they were sitting on her bed, Spongebob paying on her television.

"How did your mom react?" Tori asked. She sounded reluctant.

"Well. She didn't freak out or anything. She just said okay, " the paler girl said, nodding her head slightly when the other girl raised an eyebrow.

"That's good."

There was a short, uneasy silence. The show continued to play, long forgotten jokes lurching from the old TV.

“I think Andre told the guys about us, ” Jade said heavily, her focus on her chipped, black nail varnish.

“I don't want them to know, ” Tori responded, her head resting on her soulmate’s shoulder, “ I love and all, but I don't want them knowing yet. My parents don't even know yet.”

Wait. Tori Vega just that she loved Jade West. Loved. As n the l-word. That was sudden. And quick. They weren't even dating and she was waving that word around like it was nothing! Damn her and her ability to know what the hell she was thinking.

“You what now?” the goth asked, realising that they were in this same situation just two hours ago when she had called the other girl babe. It was going to be exhausting if they were going to communicate this way.

“I love you, ” the Latina repeated casually.

And, suddenly, the room flooded with colour. They weren't even touching skin to skin. This was really random, and neither had any idea that this happened when you admit feelings to your soulmate. Oh, God.

“I guess I love you too.”


	11. Chapter 11

Finally! Finally, Jade had reciprocated the feelings that Tori had so obviously been dangling in front of her face. They had told each other that they loved each other - and they both meant it, completely. They were now both fully able to see in colour. Permanently. They didn't even have to be in the same room for it to work. Perhaps, even after all the hesitation and second-guessing, this is what was supposed to happen. Tori no longer wished that her soulmate as anyone else than who it really was. She was sure that Jade felt the same.

They were wrapped around each other in a way that they looked no more than a tangle of limbs and hair. Jade was sitting between Tori's legs, her back facing the brunette's front. Her head was resting in her chest, somehow soothed by the sound of the other girl's heartbeat. Their hand were intertwined, and their arms were wrapped around Jade in an effort to keep her warm. The singer bent down to kiss the blue-eyed girl's bare shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Jade asked softly, her voice barely audible. It sounded as though she was ready to fall asleep after she had gotten none the night before. She yawned gently and settled further into her soulmate.

"You're beautiful, " Tori responded, not really answering the question. She gave her left hand a squeeze, "you know that?"

The paler girl gave a sleepy nod, "so I've been told. So are you."

She fell asleep shortly after. She looked so peaceful, almost harmless as she slept. Her breaths became slower and eventually turned to tiny snores. It was impossible to the think that she could ever be the aggressive person sh was when she was in this state. Tori couldn't help but watch her. It was probably a little creepy,  but she looked so pretty that it was hard not to. Eventually, Tori fell asleep too. Her energy from the nap she'd had the day before was waning quickly.

 

Jade woke up first, at around noon. She was still coiled around Tori in a way that could not have been comfortable for the Latina had she not been asleep. A small amount of light was filtering through the drawn drapes, reflecting blindingly on the glass cases of butterflies in the wall opposite her bed. She rubbed her eyes and sat up cautiously, not wanting to wake up the other girl. She carefully crawled to the other side of the bed and picked up her phone from the nightstand. She had thirty-seven texts from Beck about how much he missed her - all sent at five in the morning. By the looks of it, he and Andre had gotten drunk at the Northridge party that they'd been talking about and he wouldn't remember a word of the messages he'd sent.

She scrolled through them, most of the were illegible nonsense that she couldn't make out. One or two were about how much of a fool he was for letting her go. But it was the last one that caught her attention.

 ** _Oliver_** , **_Beck_**

 _I'm_ _sorry_. _You_ _could_ _have_ _told_ _me_ that _you_ _don't_ _like_ _guys_. _I_ _would_ _have_ _understood_. _I_ _hope_ _you're_ _happy_ _with_ _Tori. Xxxxx._

He sent it with perfect spelling, punctuation and grammar. He was sober (or sobering up) and this point, seven forty-three AM. He also had sent more kisses than he ever had int he almost three years of their relationship, but she didn't care -  aren't noticed, actually. It was just an observation. She didn't care what he thought of her or said to her. And, for his information, she did still like guys. Just because she's with a girl doesn't mean she's a lesbian, Beckett!

She blocked his number.

And his Slap page.

And his email.

 

Tori woke up a half hour later, murmuring something about wanting French toast. Her hair was messy and there was a huge, bruising hickey on her jaw from the heated make out session (that only escalated a little bit) they'd had at around six, as The Last Airbender was ending. Right between Tori arriving and them telling each other that they love one another. She still looked beautiful. She always did.

"I want to tell my parents," she said after a few moments. Drake and Josh played on the television, "about us. Your mom knows, Andre knows, and I think they should know."

"Whatever you want," Jade replied softly, playing with the brunette's hair, "I don't want to tell my dad yet, though. I'm not ready for that."

She wasn't. She didn't know if she would ever be ready to tell her father. He was that cold and judgemental of her that she would be okay letting him think that she was single for the rest of her life. Not invite him to her wedding and pretend that she adopted her children on her own.

Well, that was new. Jade has never entertained the thought of having children. They were sticky and irritating and a general pain in the ass. But, having spent ten minutes with Tori and she was already planning their future in a way that every other girl had planned theirs with Ryan Gosling when they were in grade school while she threw rocks at the boys. Suddenly, the though of settling down and having a family didn't make her want to launch herself into an active volcano. The thought actually made her stomach do a flip. Like the way it does when she gets to the chorus when she's nailing a performance, not the 'I need to talk to you' way. Even the thought of bearing her own children sounded nice. Childbirth, the concept that had given Jade nightmares since the Miracle of Life video in fifth-grade biology, was something she was willing to do. Wow, Tori had made her soft.

She didn't like it.

 

On Monday, Beck didn't talk to either Tori nor Jade. He avoided eye contact and didn't speak at all. Jade day at another table at lunch. Her old group of friends, Andre told Tori. The raven-haired girl was sitting at Ryder Daniels's old lunch table, laughing more than she had at their usual table.

"Why's she sitting there?" Tori huffed, glaring at all the wildly attracting people clad in black. Jealousy, an emotion she was usually devoid of, was flaring up like allergies.

"Those are her old friends," Cat explained sadly, her large, brown eyes staring dejectedly at her salad, "that's who she ate lunch with before Beck."

"But we’re her friends," the brunette said helplessly, sounding too hurt over this. Jade wasn't her girlfriend, she wasn't even her friend.

"We're Beck's friends," Robbie corrected, adjusting Rex on his hand. She looked to Beck, who seemed just as confused and hurt as she felt.

"They didn't know Jade before we started dating," he explained, his gaze still fixed on the blue-eyed beauty sitting a few tables away. Tori almost felt sorry for him. He was still madly in love with her and she (claimed) to have no feelings for him at all.

"I need to give her the script back," Andre groaned, "I'll just give it to her next period. I am not going near any of them."

The only person Tori knew that usually sat there was Jenna. She was in Jade's visual arts class and they had talked briefly at the Cow Wow. She seemed nice enough, but had the same unnecessarily hostile way about her that Jade had when Tori had just moved to the school (and until they started doing whatever the hell it was they were doing).

Tori pulled out her phone, somewhat angrily, and pretended to get a call from her mother. She stood up from the table without excusing herself and walked towards the school, dialling Jade's number.

"Hey!" the paler girl answered. She didn't sound aggravated, like she usually did when she answered her phone. She never sounded like that hanging out with their friends - Beck's friends.

"Can I talk to you?" Tori asked, sounding a little desperate. It was kind of pathetic, really. But, Tori had never felt like this about anyone and she wasn't about to lose Jade to Ryder Daniels's band of merry men.

"Yeah, where are you?"

"Meet me in the janitor's closet."

She did. She was there within two minutes. She was smiling, her blue-green eyes bright with happiness. She was acting so unlike herself that it was almost unsettling.

"It's really unhygienic that we keep meeting up in here," she said, smirking slightly as she moved towards her soulmate.

"I didn't ask you to meet me here to make out," Tori sighed, okay with the feeling of Jade's breath in her neck, which she was now kissing.

"What's wrong?" the raven-haired girl asked, biting her bottom lip. She had one hand on Tori's shoulder and the other on her own hip.

"Why were you sitting with them?" the brunette asked, sounding a lot needier than she would have liked. She was getting clingy already, and they weren't even dating.

"Why do you care?" The goth asked, suddenly getting defensive. There was the Jade she was comfortable with. She withdrew her hand and placed it on her hip, her eyes narrowed, "we're not supposed to be acting like were dating."

There was so many things wrong with what she had just said. First of all, they were not dating. At least, they hadn't discussed it. They had agreed that this was strictly casual (as if Jade West was ever casual with anything she ever did), but they had said I love you to one another. Perhaps that had changed something? No. Jade was very adamant that they were just fooling around, and they would make their relationship more serious when they got older. They had their whole lives to be a serious couple. Second, no on had said they couldn't spend time with each other. They'd agreed that they wouldn't tell their friends until at least Tori's parents knew (even though Andre and Beck knew already, but the Latina didn't know about the latter).

"Who said that?" the brunette asked. It was a genuine question, but it came out like a sarcastic remark. God, this was going to turn into a fight and that was the last thing she wanted. She hated fighting with Jade.

"I did! How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not ready for any of this?" Jade asked rhetorically, waving her hands around for emphasis, " _I_ don't want to tell anyone about us! I'm the one who wants to act like we're not dating - not that we are. Why can't you respect that?"

Tori was at a loss for words, "maybe we should cool things down then, if you're not ready. Some time apart might be good for us."

"Thank you," the blue-eyed girl sounded relieved, like she wanted this to happen, "can we maybe try to be friends first. All we do is make out and fight. That's hardly a healthy relationship, Vega."

 

They walked to sixth period together. They talked about their plans for tonight, which was to stay in Tori's and try to rework the Poor Unfortunate Souls reprise for Jade's play. They also had to brainstorm some new title ideas since she thought that The Little Mermaid wasn't an appropriate as the story was from Ursula's point of view.  They were already failing at the whole staying apart thing and it had only been five minutes.

They walked into Sikowitz's class, laughing about something stupid. The rest of their friends were already there, talking in hushed voices. Since when do they do that?

"What are you guys talking about?" Tori asked enthusiastically, plopping down on her regular seat next to Andre while Jade sat next to Cat.

"Nothing," Beck shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but overacted and looked like he was in physical pain.

"We definitely weren't wondering when you guys were going to tell us that you're dating," Cat promised sweetly, looking scandalised when the others yelled at her, "what? You said not to tell them!"

"And I was wondering when that was any of your business," Jade snapped, pulling a pair of scissors from thin air and pointing at her frien- the people she used to eat lunch with, "and, Beckett, never text me about our past relationship again."

"I can't text you if you've blocked my number," he replied bitterly, glaring at her as though she was the one at fault.

"Exactly, you idiot," she fired back, turning away from him and sulking.

"We're not dating!" Tori yelled over the group's incessant bickering, "just because we've gotten closer doesn't mean she's my girlfriend."

"I walked in on all y'all making out," Andre said accusingly. It was more than making out, a lot more than making out.

"Like you haven't made out with one of your friends before," Jade retorted, laughing darkly. She knew for a fact that he had kissed Cat in ninth grade and that he'd hoped she forgot about it. She hadn't.

Sikowitz came in through the window, as he often did, before any of them could defend themselves. He started a lecture about who knows what. He didn't seem to sense the tension (which was odd, you could cut it with a blunt butter knife) and got Robbie and Jade to act out a scene about parents arguing over what to name their pending baby. None of them knew what it had to do with anything, but they obeyed. The two got the anger to a t.

They all have last period separately. Thank god, or else Beck and Jade would have started yelling at each other, again, and Robbie would have started crying, again, and Cat would have fainted, again. It was awfully reminiscent of the weeks before their final breakup. Tori didn't like it.

 

Cat came with them to to Tori's house with them. Jade invited her (without telling Tori)because they had to talk about something. The goth was obviously still quite angry at the more naive teen, but when was she not?

"I want you two to be my Ariels," the blue-eyed girl said abruptly while the other two were digging in their school bags looking for paper and pens. Apparently, neither of them had pencil cases.

"Why do you need two?" Cat asked. Would one of them be an understudy? There wasn't really another reason for there to be two of the same character.

"Cat, I want you to be my mermaid Ariel and Tori can be land Ariel. It lets the audience see what scenes are underwater. Also, no offence, Cat, but most girls didn't run around with bright red hair in the medieval period," Jade explained, writing notes on the script that Andre had given her at the end of the day, "how high can you sing, Vega?"

"About high A," Tori replied.

They started going through the notes Andre had made. Most of them were about chords or note placement. But there were a few on the lyrics, making suggestions for words that rhymed better or fit the tone of the song better. Jade may have still been angry at him, but he was still an incredible songwriter.

It took them a lot longer than necessary to finish the rewrites and they barely have time to decide on a name for the play itself. But, eventually, near midnight they do. Well, Tori and Jade do. Cat is already passed out on the couch. They decide that they’ll call it Favourable Intolerances.


	12. Chapter 12

"I don't know whether to kill myself or them," Jade groaned in annoyance at the terrible auditions she was having to watch again to choose callbacks. It was surprising how little acting talent there was at Hollywood Arts, considering it was a school for insanely talented kids (and Trina).

"You're mean," Cat giggled, but was visibly cringing at the act that was currently playing on the laptop.

"But you have a point," Tori interjected, getting a migraine from the squawking that Sadie Williams called a Whitney cover.

Overall, the auditions could have been a lot worse. A few freshmen auditioned, each of them getting too nervous and tripping over their words. They probably wouldn't get the part anyway. Jade wanted this to be perfect and having a ninth grader as a lead was not going to help that. Some of the boys auditioning for Prince Eric were a little too cocky and therefore ruled out completely because she doesn't want to work with them. Nobody wanted to work with them.

Jade was able to say that she confidently knew who would be called back for one character. Beck had auditioned for the role of Prince Eric. Of course, he had done amazingly. He had never once flubbed an audition, he was hardly going to start now. It was as if he truly meant every single word he spoke of the monologue. She was going to have to cast him unless Sinjin suddenly gained the ability to act. There was no way she could spare his talent. It was grudgingly, of course, but she had to it nonetheless. She was going to have to kiss him again, Tori was going to have to kiss him. It was a recipe for disaster, but it was what had to be done.

Otherwise, she was screwed in terms of casting. You would really think that the students of Hollywood Arts would have some ability in the arts, but they generally don't. Or, Jade is picky as hell and is refusing to cast the people who have somehow offended her in some shape or form at a point in time. That eliminated almost the entire female body of students and a good portion of everyone else.

"This is impossible!" Jade complained loudly, pausing another mediocre at best audition, "how the hell did these people get into our school? I thought Helen was really thorough with the people who got in."

"Maybe you should hold more auditions?" Cat offered, "we can help, can't we Tori?"

Tori nodded enthusiastically, "yeah, of course."

That's what they did. Fortunately, the actors of the school actually showed up to this one. Apparently, Sikowitz was having a secret workshop thing for the lower classmen and that's what they weren't in the first round of auditions. Finally, of an entire weekend of complaining, Jade was able to make callbacks and everything was in order. After all, she really didn't have very much time to pull this play off. It was currently mid-February and all final pieces had to be either performed or handed in by the start of May. That only gave her two and a half months to make final casting choices and get the whole thing perfected, because, of course, that girl would not settle for anything less than perfection.

Lunch the next day was incredibly awkward for a reason Tori didn't understand. She had obviously missed something while she was at the grub truck. Cat and Robbie were talking about something odd, as they usually did, but everyone else was sitting in complete silence. Beck and Andre were sitting next to each other, both of them staring adamantly at their own lunch and Jade was attacking her salad with her fork.

"Am I missing something?" the brunette asked, slotting herself between Jade and Andre, "you guys are acting really weird."

"Andre met his soulmate last night," their redheaded friend squeals excitedly, clapping her hands like a toddler would, "isn't that so cool!"

"Yeah, it is. Andre, are you not super pumped about this?" the singer asked, raising an eyebrow as she carefully cut her sandwich in two. She frowned slightly when she noticed that her best friend obviously wasn't happy about this revelation, at all.

"I thought I would be, but I don't know," the boy in question shrugged, finally picking up his burrito and taking a bite, "it's just not who I thought it would be."

Tori knows that feeling all too well. It's not like she was expecting her soulmate to be the girl who would bully her for the good part of two years, but they were working things out. Kind of. But, this confused her, it was not like Andre to not like a girl, "why, who is it?" 

"Alyssa Vaughn," he said as if the girl's name was poison. No wonder Beck and Jade were so weird about this. They had broken up over that girl and her soulmate was one of their best friends. There was a heavy silence. Because, really, how do you even respond to that? Obviously, last year when the whole  _incident_  had happened, Andre had openly expressed his attraction to his soulmate. Now, it was just awkward as hell.

"Jade has met her soulmate, too," Beck speaks for the first time since Tori has sat down. It's more of a jeer than an addition to the conversation. She tried to act surprised at his comment, but she couldn't have possibly have faked it too well when Jade juts her elbow into the other girl's ribs.

"What? I always thought that you two were soulmates," Robbie said stupidly, earning a scathing look from the former couple.

"Soulmates don't act like we do, Rob," the Canadian boy sighs, a hand finding his hair, "we're not soulmates."

"Who is it then, how come we haven't met him yet?" Cat pipes up, trying to cover the hurt she must be feeling at not knowing this information. Jade is supposed to be her best friend.

"It's none of any of your business," the actress snaps, making very brief eye contact with her soulmate, "you're a real dick for bringing this up, Oliver!"

"I was just making conversation," he shrugs. He must know that what he did was majorly wrong. If he did, he failed to show any remorse.

"You're trying to humiliate her!" Tori said, her voice raised. She'd never had any sort of direct conflict with Beck but she was not going to sit there and let him talk to Jade like that.

He gives that smile that usually made a girl melt. Thank all that is holy that it had no effect on her - she doesn't like guys. God, he was so infuriating! Did he really think that would work on her? He was the only person at this table that knew she didn't like boys, "you seem awfully offended, Tori. Everything okay?"

"Come on, Vega. We're leaving," Jade's voice cuts through the tense silence, immediately breaking the intense stare-off that her soulmate and ex-boyfriend were having, "and, FYI, you haven't met  _him_  because  _he's_  a chick."There was a stunned stare that followed the two girls as the left the table. They were bound to put two and two together and realise that they were soulmates. Their friends were pretty smart. 

They walked into the school building, both of them seething. Anger radiates off of Jade's body. The scowl on her face is so deep set that it was off-putting and her arms were actually shaking as she forcibly pulled the closet door open, almost pulling it from its hinges. Thank god that most of the school were at lunch and only a few freshmen were loitering in the hallway.

"I'm sorry. That was so stupid of me," the goth said sincerely, her quivering hands covering her face, "I shouldn't have said anything. Beck just makes me so ... ugh!"

"It's okay, I promise. It was his fault, he was trying to weed it out of you. I really expected more from him," the singer reassured, pulling the other girl into a hug and kissing the top of her hair, "it's okay, I love you."

Jade let out a shaky breath and nodded, "I love you, too. I really thought that he didn't think he could get to me like that anymore."

Her mind was reeling. Fights with Beck were echoing in her head like they had when they happened, Cat's excited giggles were bouncing around in her skull like rubber balls and every mean thing she'd ever said to her soulmate was screaming in her eardrums. She attempted to suck in a breath but it was as though her lungs had collapsed, oxygen was refusing to go in. The closet was spinning as she tried to focus her gaze on Tori, but the girl was blurry and moving around sporadically. There was something terribly wrong. She could hear the Latina trying to talk to her, but the words were drowned out by the now added ringing in her ears. Suddenly, she was on the floor. Her knees had buckled and a flood of uncontrollable tears now wracked her frame. She was in no way able to take a breath, she couldn't breathe. This had never happened before and she was not okay with it.

"Jade. Jade, look at me. You're okay, I'm here. I'm here," Tori's voice finally broke through the barrier of the screaming and incessant ringing in Jade's ears. She could already feel her heart rate stabilise substantially, but everything else was still overwhelmingly terrible. She shook her head, tears still coursing their steady stream down her face.

"I'm sorry," she choked out after five minutes. The bell had rung and classes had already started, "I'm so sorry."

Tori was utterly baffled. She didn't understand what was going on. They'd come into the janitor's closet to cool down after what happened with the others, and now Jade was on the floor, having a panic attack and apologising for who knows what, "why are you sorry? You haven't done anything."

The raven-haired girl looked up, her blue eyes still full of tears, "yes, I have. I'm such a terrible person. You're always so nice to me and I just outed us to everyone because I was pissed at my ex-boyfriend! I've been so awful to you and it really isn't okay. I am sorry."

"I haven't been the greatest, either. I cancelled your performance last year so I could have a stupid dance and I forced you to be with me when you weren't ready and I kissed your boyfriend."

"You know what?" Jade said, finally regaining her composure, "let's just call a truce on all of this. I know I can't carry all of this guilt around with me, so I don't know how you're doing it. I'm tired of the back and forth and the bickering and sneaking around. Let's just go for this."

"What are you saying?" Tori asked, knowing exactly the answer she was about to get.

"What I'm saying, Tori Vega, is: will you be my girlfriend?"

It was the least romantic place that this could have possibly happened. But, the janitor's closet was their place. This is where they came on a nearly a daily basis to cry or fight or almost lose their virginities. It was their spot, and honestly, there wasn't a place that could have been a better venue for this.

"Yes, Jade West, I will be your girlfriend."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is the last part of Colours! I am planning on writing a sequel consisting of one-shots and things like that. I really loved writing this, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it!


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